The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is proposing updates and new regulations with respect to Greenhouse Gas Monitoring and Reporting. This is in response to the recently passed, Global Warming Response Act (GWRA), N.J.S.A. 26:2C-37 et seq. The GWRA asserts New Jersey greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced to 80 percent less than the 2006 level of Statewide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (80x50 goal).
While many greenhouse gases (GHG) are already reported to the State in some fashion, the Department has identified certain methane (CH4) emitting and halogenated gas emitting operations that do not have a GHG reporting requirement. As such, the NJDEP is now proposing that facilities that emit or have the potential to emit in excess of 100 tons of methane per year be required to report those emissions. Reporting of this nature would be conducted via the annual emission statement program.
In addition to this reporting, the NJDEP will also require natural gas utilities to report information related to distribution lines including leaks of methane. This would include an annual reporting requirement that highlights leaks and discharge events, planned or otherwise.
The final change to address the GWRA 80x50 goal pertains to emissions of halogenated gases from facilities with large, stationary, non-residential refrigeration systems. If adopted the newly proposed rule would require facilities with at least one refrigeration system with a full charge of 50 pounds or more of high-GWP refrigerant to register and report information about the equipment and refrigerants used. It should be noted that this requirement would apply to commercial and industrial process refrigeration systems but exclude air-conditioning appliances. By definition within the proposal, chillers are excluded and not considered air conditioning appliances.
A link to the full rule proposal can be found here.
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