Some of BP's
U.S.
refinery and natural gas projects may be delayed by permitting bottlenecks and
legal uncertainties under the Environmental Protection Agency's plans to
regulate greenhouse gases, a senior BP official said Wednesday.
The comments by Karen St. John, BP's
U.S.
director of regulatory affairs, follow an EPA announcement earlier this week
that it would delay its new greenhouse gas regulations and raise the emissions
limits for the initial stages of regulations.
Concerns about state regulators' ability to manage the expected large influx of
permitting was one of the potential consequences "keeping me up at
night," St. John, speaking at an event examining the impacts of greenhouse
gas regulations under the Clean Air Act, said.
BP is modifying some of its refineries to meet new fuel specifications and
preparing new natural gas developments, and "we are concerned about what
the permitting impacts could be on these projects," she said. Uncertainties
over how the new rules will be interpreted by the courts, and particularly how
long that process can take, could further delay modifications or new
construction,
St. John
said.