Greenhouse gas drop, what will ALGORE do now?

Draft EPA report shows drop in greenhouse
gas growth amid economic boom


A draft report released this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
shows overall emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG) in 2005 grew by less than 1 percent
compared with 2004 emissions. The report also documents an overall emissions increase
of 16 percent between 1990 and 2005, during which time America’s economy grew by 55
percent.
These findings were contained in a draft version of a report entitled Inventory of
U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2005, released by EPA on Feb. 20,
which the agency will accept public comments on for 30 days. EPA is likely to issue
a final version of the report in April.
Specifically, the draft report found that emissions of GHG in 2005 were 0.8 percent

higher than the previous year, down from the 1.4 percent increase
recorded in 2004. Overall, 2005 emissions of the six greenhouse
gasses catalogued were equivalent to 7.262 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide. The study tracked emissions of carbon dioxide,
methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons
and sulfur hexafluoride. The draft study tracks a 2.1 percent
drop in nitrogen oxide emissions from stationar y fossil fuel
sources and a 0.2 percent drop in sulfur dioxide emissions from
these sources.
The draft report notes that 11 percent of 2005 GHG emissions
were offset by carbon sequestration in forests, agricultural soils
and other sources.
The draft report is a catalogue of emissions that the agency
is required to produce and submit under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). In a Feb.
20 press release, EPA said it will submit a final inventory report
to the UNFCC secretariat in order to fulfill an annual reporting
requirement.
A copy of the draft report is available at: http://epa.gov/
climatechange/emissions/usinventoryreport07.html.