How Do We Know What We Are Emitting? Monitoring, Reporting and Verifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Date: Monday, July 27, 2009 Time: 10:00 AM Location: 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

Opening Statement By Chairman Brian Baird

Good morning and welcome to the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment in the 111th Congress. I am looking forward to working with all of you over the next two years.

This morning’s hearing provides us with an opportunity to examine the quality of the information that is being collected on the emissions of greenhouse gases. A number of states have established programs to address climate change and to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Over 130 nations will meet in Copenhagen, Denmark this coming December to negotiate a new agreement to control greenhouse gas emissions. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have stated their intention to develop legislation to regulate greenhouse gases. And, the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to release a federal register notice soon to establish a mandatory greenhouse gas reporting system.

In order to evaluate programs – either mandatory or voluntary – for controlling greenhouse gases, we must be able to track emissions accurately. We need an accurate measurement of baseline emissions. We need to know the emissions levels we are starting from and we need a good baseline estimate as a benchmark to determine whether control programs are effective or not in reducing emissions.

We have experience and technologies to monitor emissions from utilities that we gained through the acid rain program under Title IV of the Clean Air Act. However, there are many more entities that need to be monitored under a greenhouse gas control program and some of these organizations have to initiate new programs to track their emissions accurately.

If we are going to develop a program to control greenhouse gas emissions, we need to start developing tools that will enable regulated entities to track their emissions using methods that are accurate and that are not overly burdensome.

We have an excellent panel of witnesses with us here this morning whose experience encompasses all three aspects of our hearing topic today. I look forward to their testimony and to their recommendations on how we can ensure that information on greenhouse gas emissions provides a reliable measure of emission sources and of the effectiveness of the policies we put in place to control these emissions.

Witnesses

Panel

0 - Mr. John Stephenson
Director, Natural Resources and Environment Government Accountability Office Government Accountability Office
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0 - Ms. Jill Gravender
Vice President for Policy The Climate Registry The Climate Registry
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0 - Ms. Leslie Wong
Director of Greenhouse Gas Programs Waste Management, Inc. Waste Management, Inc.
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0 - Mr. Rob Ellis
GHG Program Manager Advanced Waste Management Systems, Inc. Advanced Waste Management Systems, Inc.
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