More Than One Way to Limit Greenhouse Gases: EPA Looks at the Clean Water Act

When the front door won’t open, try the back. Try the side door and all the windows, too.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week settled a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity with an agreement aimed at addressing the causes of ocean acidification in coastal states and potentially regulating those causes under the provisions of the Clean Water Act. With the EPA’s intent to regulate large stationary greenhouse gas sources under the Clean Air Act already considered a back door to climate regulation and under fire from some lawmakers, this new avenue represents yet another way into the problem.

And while EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson herself says that top-down solutions, including federal legislation and a binding international agreement, are still the gold standards and necessary steps toward true climate change mitigation, there has now emerged a striking patchwork of possibilities toward regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

These diffuse ideas, from state renewable energy portfolio standards to the EPA’s potential under both the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, could end up leading the way until the world is ready to follow suit.

“With such a big challenge, and one that draws so many people into it, taking a variety of approaches makes perfect sense.” said May Boeve, the partnerships director for non-profit 350.org. “I think no one has come up with a single solution because clearly we haven’t solved the problem yet.”

The Ocean Acidification Avenue

The newest entry to this pallet of possibilities is the possibilities of regulation under the Clean Water Act. Acidification of lakes and rivers has been addressed with this legislation before, but tackling the ongoing acidification of oceans has yet to be attempted. The Center for Biological Diversity brought suit based on the idea that the EPA should have listed Washington state’s coastal waters as impaired by acidity.

Oceans around the world have already risen in acidity by about 30 percent since pre-industrial times, according to numbers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Such changes in the water could already be having huge impacts on coral reefs and many different organisms. In a statement sent to SolveClimate, the EPA said:

"Protection of the nation's water quality, including the health of our ocean waters is among EPA's highest priorities. EPA is interested in learning more about how to protect our ocean and coastal waters from acidification."

For now, the settlement means only that the EPA will seek guidance and public comment on how best to approach ocean acidification issues. Any regulations would likely be several years in the future. But because oceans absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, the possibility exists that this could eventually lead to regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Water Act.

“I think it is very interesting, and I would like to think it is also going to change some of the rules of the game,” said Damon Moglen, the global warming campaign director at Greenpeace USA. “We all know that ocean acidification is advancing remorselessly, and it is very scary. The idea that we need to get a grasp on CO2 under the Clean Water Act makes a lot of sense.”

Moglen added, though, that without more solid federal leadership, the agency-based attempts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions will most likely be held up in court or with other challenges for far too long. The American Petroleum Institute already attempted to block the Clean Water Act lawsuit, unsuccessfully.