Greenhouse Gas Confidentiality Determinations Finalized by U.S. EPA

On August 13, 2012 in Federal Register Vol.77, No 156, U.S. EPA announced the finalization of confidentiality determinations for regulations under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gases Reporting Rule.  In this same action, U.S. EPA also finalized amendments to defer the reporting deadline of certain data elements until 2013 and other elements to 2015, and to adjust the calculation and reporting of emissions from facilities that use best available monitoring methods (“BAMM”).  Published by U.S. EPA on October 30, 2009, the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule which is codified in 40 CFR Part 98 (Part 98), mandates U.S. EPA’s collection of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data and other relevant information from large sources and suppliers in the United States for use when considering future policy decisions.  To address stakeholder comments concerning data reported that consists of trade secrets and other confidential business information (CBI), U.S. EPA published the Proposed Confidentiality Determinations for Data Required under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule and Proposed Amendment to Special Rules Governing Certain Information Obtained under the Clean Air Act (the CBI Proposal) on July 7, 2011.  These latest amendments represent the “next step” in a series of rulemaking actions in which U.S. EPA finalizes determinations regarding which categories of data elements will be protected as CBI.  More specifically, the amendments provide confidentiality determinations for most data elements to be reported under nine (9) subparts of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and defer the deadline for reporting certain other data elements that are inputs to emission equations in three (3) subparts.  U.S. EPA has stated that the deferred reporting requirements for inputs to emission equations until 2013 for some data and 2015 for others have been made to allow for a more complete evaluation of issues regarding inputs to emissions equations, such as raw materials used and production volume.