El Paso Corp. on Wednesday became the first natural gas company to announce it has joined the California Climate Action Registry, a group of organizations that publicly track and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The registry, created by the California legislature in 2000, helps companies and organizations throughout the United States track, publicly report and reduce their GHG emissions. The reports are certified by independent third parties to ensure compliance with registry protocols and standardization across participants and sectors. As a member, El Paso will work with the registry to certify its GHG emissions beginning in 2008.

El Paso said it has been active in advancing dialogue on GHG emissions and development of emissions quantification standards within the interstate natural gas pipeline industry. El Paso has demonstrated its stewardship in minimizing methane through its participation in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Natural Gas STAR program and various internal initiatives. Thus far, El Paso estimates that it has saved more than 26.4 Bcf of natural gas — equivalent to removing 2.4 million cars from the roads.

“El Paso believes in advancing constructive debate and greater understanding of global warming issues and, specifically, greenhouse gas emissions,” said CEO Doug Foshee. “We are committed to being an active participant in that debate and to developing sound, technology-based solutions that benefit the nation, consumers, and industry.”

“Transmission and use of natural gas are significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions here in California, and it’s important for us to better track those sources,” said Diane Wittenberg, president of the registry. “El Paso is leading its industry by participating in the registry, and will also play an important role in helping with development of our GHG accounting standards for the natural gas transmission and distribution sector in the coming months.”

©Copyright 2006Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.