AUDIO

While it is unclear whether Congress will enact major legislation to regulate greenhouse gases via a market-based instrument like cap-and-trade, it is increasingly evident that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is going to continue moving forward with its own plans to regulate greenhouse gases through an array of command-and-control regulations.

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA would be forced to promulgate a vast assortment of regulations that would affect the producers and consumers of energy, much as it did for conventional air pollutants. Such regulations could include requirements for expensive retrofitting of industrial and large commercial facilities with "best available control technology" and "reasonably available control technology"; the expansion of vehicle performance standards and appliance standards; stringent reporting requirements; and New Source Review, a preconstruction permit program to assure that new emissions do not worsen air quality.

Is the Clean Air Act an appropriate instrument for the management of greenhouse gas emissions? What are the potential benefits and liabilities of continuing along the current path toward EPA administration of stringent greenhouse gas controls? At this AEI event, a panel of experts from different perspectives will evaluate and discuss these and other questions. AEI's Kenneth P. Green will moderate.