SEATTLE (Recycling Monster): A proposal to terminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program has been made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The initiative has been gathering yearly carbon emissions data from over 8,000 industrial locations nationwide for nearly 15 years.

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Since it started gathering data in 2010, the initiative has collected data from up to 47 different types of facilities, including those in the garbage, manufacturing, oil, and gas sectors. The data has been a key component in developing the country's yearly greenhouse gas inventory, a study that the Trump administration has now discontinued, in addition to facilitating a standardized emission disclosure by businesses across a range of industries. Additionally, the EPA has previously developed air pollution guidelines using data from the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program.

In response to the ruling, EPA employees stated that the program incurs needless expenses for regulated organizations and that, over a ten-year period, firms would save around $2 billion if it were discontinued. Additionally, according to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the initiative is little more than bureaucratic red tape and has no effect on air quality.

The program's demise, according to the opponents, would be a major setback to federal climate policy.