Any action to restrict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will primarily come at the regulatory level rather than in Congress this year, said an official with the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). The would be the best route for President Obama, who begaun his second term in office last week and indicated one focus would be on climate change.

“The administration will likely initiate a lot of regulatory steps dealing with climate change,” principally through the Environmental Protection Agency], said IPAA’s Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations. The Obama administration has generally been able to get those regulatory actions sustained by the courts, he noted.

In his inauguration address last Monday, the president made clear that climate change would be a top agenda item in the second term. “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” Obama said.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of visibility on the issue in Congress.” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has already announced she wants to hold hearings on the issue. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has weighed in as well, according to Fuller.

But “it seems unlikely there will be support for a massive climate bill in Congress this year,” he said. Bills will be introduced, but “I doubt legislation [will be] enacted.”

The United States in conjunction with Europe will not be able to change the overall direction of GHG development. They need the support of China, India and other emerging nations to embrace restrictions on emissions, Fuller said.

Most of the large emission sources are coal-fired power plants and refineries. However, the oil and gas industry is “going to come under a lot of attack [from the Sierra Club and other conservation groups] regardless of whether greenhouse gas is involved,” said the IPAA spokesman.

In response to industry critics, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said oil and gas is “leading the way in lowering carbon emissions” due to the prolific supplies of gas brought on by the unconventional resource revolution, as well as technological advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.

“As a result, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen back to 1992 levels — that’s a 20-year low. Our industry is the largest single investor in low-and zero-carbon technologies,” the API said.

©Copyright 2013Intelligence 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.