On February 6, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") released a new version of its Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory indicating a decline in U.S. total net greenhouse gas emissions of roughly 12 percent from 2005 to 2016. This includes a decrease of about 2.5 percent from 2015 to 2016 due in part to substitution of natural gas and other non-fossil fuel energy sources for coal in the electric power sector. Gross emissions in 2016 are still higher than 1990 levels (the baseline year for the inventory) but only by 2.4 percent, down from a high of 15.7 percent above 1990 levels in 2007.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt characterized the inventory as support for the agency's ongoing rollback of Obama-era climate change regulations, including the Clean Power Plan. Greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector were down roughly 25 percent in 2016 from 2005 levels according to the inventory. A regulatory agenda released in May 2018 indicates that EPA will propose a replacement for the Clean Power Plan in June 2018 and a final rule rescinding it by the end of the year.
In the oil and gas sector, EPA found a 1.5 percent decrease in methane emissions from 2015 to 2016 and a total decrease of about 14 percent since 1990. EPA came under fire recently for withdrawing efforts by the Obama Administration to establish methane guidelines for existing sources in the oil and gas industry. EPA's Office of Inspector General has rejected claims that EPA used flawed information to estimate methane emissions.
The inventory has no direct effect on emission standards or other requirements for industries that emit greenhouse gases. However, it does seem to play a role in EPA's planning of the current regulatory agenda, as reflected in the administrator's comments when announcing it. More broadly, the inventory has value in showing that many U.S. industries are reducing greenhouse gas emissions, despite an ongoing narrative to the contrary.
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