EPA: Emission rules for refineries not forthcoming this year

The Environmental Protection Agency likely won’t finalize regulations for greenhouse gas emission for refineries until early 2013, an agency spokeswoman says. As reported by FuelFix.com, the announcement is the latest delay to EPA climate rules for stationary sources. The agency has already postponed proposed refinery rules and separate regulations for coal-fired power plants. The agency in November announced it wouldn’t meet a December deadline for proposing the refinery rules under a court agreement with environmental groups and states. “EPA expects to need more time to complete work on greenhouse gas pollution standards for oil refineries and does not anticipate to finalize standards this year,” says EPA spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara in an email. “EPA continues to work with the litigants to develop a new schedule.” Although the agency won’t finalize the refinery rules in 2012, it offered no indication of when it might actually propose them. “We have been in negotiations with EPA to see if we can agree on a revised schedule and keep things moving forward,” says David Doniger, clean air and climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. He declined to comment further, citing the ongoing legal process.