CARB Delays Mandatory Reporting Deadline
Monday Morning Report, March 26, 2012
At CIPA’s request, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will delay the reporting deadline for Mandatory Reporting under Cap-and-Trade for 30 days.
Confusion over definition of a facility, slowness in clarification of reporting issues and errors in the CARB reporting tool led CIPA to ask for a delay in reporting. CARB staff has indicated notices of the delay will go out this afternoon to oil and gas operators required to report.
The lack of guidance by CARB in providing clarification of the departure from the federal facility definition until February 29, 2012, placed oil and gas producers in a position of making hurried evaluations of applicability and associated data gathering. Reporters have been forced to re-evaluate everything necessary to meet the present April 10th deadline in no more than 40 days after the publication of the guidance document. Also, CARB’s attempt to align with Subpart W is flawed by creating reporting tools that are incorrect. Cal e-GGRT (the California version of the federal reporting system) continues to have vagaries, inconsistencies and inaccuracies that require fixing before correct reporting can take place.
Under the rules for reporting, companies are required to have the reporting signed by senior management under penalty of perjury. CIPA did not believe that CARB management would intentionally cause regulated parties to submit wrong information and then invoke the penalties available to the agency against reporters on purpose, but this indeed could be the likely outcome if the April 10th deadline had not been extended. CIPA and our members view these requirements and obligations seriously and intend to comply responsibly, and welcome additional time to accurately comply.
The reporting deadline for oil and gas operations with over 25,000 metric tons of emissions was April 10, 2012 and has been changed to May 10, 2012. CIPA is meeting with CARB’s reporting program staff to resolve pending issues with the protocol.
