Oral Statement of
Daren Bakst, J.D., LL.M.
Legal and Regulatory Analyst
John Locke Foundation
Regarding the Annual Emissions Reporting Rule
October 28, 2008
*I am a licensed attorney in Florida and Pennsylvania—I am not licensed in North Carolina.
**I intend to provide detailed written comments before the December 1, 2008 deadline.
I want to thank the Division of Air Quality for this opportunity to provide a brief oral statement.
My name is Daren Bakst and I’m the Legal and Regulatory Analyst for the John Locke Foundation. The opinions expressed are mine alone and don’t necessarily reflect the views of the John Locke Foundation.
The proposed rule isn’t a simple reporting rule. This rule would mark the first time North Carolina has regulated carbon dioxide emissions.
My concern tonight isn’t whether there should be CO2 regulation, but whether the EMC should be the governing body that decides to regulate CO2.
There likely is no statutory authority for the EMC to regulate CO2. Assuming though that some weak authority does exist, it still wouldn’t be appropriate for the EMC to regulate CO2.
CO2 regulation would be one of the biggest environmental and economic policy decisions made in this state’s history. The EMC would be making that decision based on questionable authorization from the legislature.
If there’s to be CO2 regulation, the legislature should make the clear and unambiguous decision to regulate CO2. Elected and accountable representatives, not appointed bodies, should address issues of this magnitude.
As it turns out, the legislature is in fact taking steps to address CO2 emissions. There is a legislative commission on global climate change. This past legislative session, the legislature extended the work of this commission. To date, the commission has not recommended legislation to require reporting of CO2, nor any other CO2 regulation.
I hope that the EMC will reject this rule and allow the legislature and the legislative commission to do its work.