Nineteen States Have Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting

If you happen to live in a state that requires greenhouse gas emissions reporting, you should be able to get information on the energy intensity of your water systems and find out how much energy you can save by saving water in your community.

As Congress struggles to pass comprehensive climate change legislation, it’s important to keep in mind that a number of states have already decided to begin tracking their global warming pollution. Twenty-three states have drafted legislation that encourages voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting, while eighteen states currently require mandatory reporting.

Every state that requires mandatory reporting (besides West Virginia), as well as the states that encourage voluntary reporting, have joined
The Climate Registry, a nonprofit organization set up by the states to create consistent standards for calculating carbon footprints and making them publicly available.

I have not had the chance to review the relevant legislation in each state but my hunch is that drinking water and wastewater utilities are required to report their GHG emissions in every state. Therefore, by kindly pressing your utility or state energy office for information on the carbon footprint of your water or wastewater systems, you should be able to figure out how much energy/carbon is embedded in each unit of water in your community.

Once equipped with this information, your group can begin including energy saving information in your water education and outreach materials, and start working with your utilities to tailor water conservation efforts to optimize energy savings.

Until Federal legislation passes, we should be encouraging every state to join the Climate Registry and begin requiring polluters to report their carbon emissions. Below you can find out which states have mandatory GHG emissions reporting, voluntary reporting and no reporting at all.

Mandatory Reporting

California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Iowa
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Oregon
Rhode Island
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Vermont

Voluntary Reporting

Alabama
Arizona
Colorado
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Kansas
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nevada
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Utah
Virginia
Wyoming

No Reporting

Alaska
Arkansas
Indiana
Kentucky
Mississippi
Nebraska
North Dakota
South Dakota
Texas

I should also add that of the sources I could find, most- claimed that 18 states required mandatory GHG emissions reporting. While I must profess that I have not conducted an independent review, I changed the number to 19 because I noticed that Oregon was not included in the list of 18. In 2008, Oregon’s DEQ
passed rules that make reporting mandatory.