DEQ Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Regulations 3

Question 1

What is a 'carbon offset' in the context of state DEQ greenhouse gas programs?

Accepted Answer

A credit representing a verified reduction or removal of one metric ton of CO2e from the atmosphere

Answer

A financial penalty for exceeding emission limits

Answer

A type of air permit for carbon-intensive industries

Answer

A federal subsidy for clean energy investment

Question 2

State DEQ agencies often require facility GHG emission inventories to use which standard methodology for quantifying emissions?

Accepted Answer

EPA's Mandatory Reporting Rule calculation methodologies

Answer

ASTM International Standards

Answer

ISO 9001 quality management procedures

Answer

OSHA industrial hygiene sampling protocols

Question 3

Which concept refers to determining whether a facility's GHG emissions are genuinely reduced versus simply shifted to another location or source?

Accepted Answer

Carbon leakage

Answer

Additionality

Answer

Offset permanence

Answer

Baseline attribution

Question 4

Under the Clean Air Act, what threshold triggers Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) review for greenhouse gas emissions from a new major source?

Accepted Answer

75,000 tons per year CO2e

Answer

10,000 tons per year CO2e

Answer

250 tons per year CO2e

Answer

1,000 tons per year CO2e

Question 5

What role do state DEQ agencies play in implementing the EPA's Clean Power Plan or its successor rules for power plant GHG reductions?

Accepted Answer

States develop their own plans (SIPs/EGs) to meet federal emission guidelines for power plants

Answer

States have no role; EPA directly regulates each power plant

Answer

States only provide financial incentives with no regulatory authority

Answer

States enforce only water-related aspects of power plant regulations

Question 6

Which greenhouse gas has the highest 100-year Global Warming Potential among those commonly regulated by DEQ programs?

Accepted Answer

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)

Answer

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Answer

Methane (CH4)

Answer

Nitrous oxide (N2O)

Question 7

A facility wishes to claim GHG emission reductions through on-site carbon sequestration in forests. Which criterion is most critical for DEQ verification of such offsets?

Accepted Answer

The sequestration must be permanent, verifiable, and additional to what would have occurred without the project

Answer

The forest must be located in a federally designated wilderness area

Answer

The facility must own more than 500 acres of forested land

Answer

The carbon must be sequestered underground rather than in living biomass