Oregon EQC Rubber Stamps GHG Reporting Rules

This morning the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) placed its rubber stamp of approval on premature reporting rules proposed by Oregon DEQ well before receiving conflicting guidance from the Western Climate Initiative.

With the exception of emissions from the state’s wood-fired boilers at pulp/paper/wood products facilities, the Oregon reporting rules provide little information that could not be obtained directly from Oregon’s utilities (gas and electric). For the more than 400 covered facilities, they simply layer on additional reporting requirements and provide yet another opportunity for Oregon business to lose sensitive business information to competitors through inadvertent disclosures.

Oregon’s rush to reporting (without an underlying regulatory structure) makes little sense in today’s business climate.