EPA Issues Guidance on Carbon-Emissions Regulations

The Obama administration said states will decide how power plants and other big polluters should cut emissions when the first U.S. greenhouse-gas regulations take effect in January.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance today letting states determine on a case-by-case basis the “best available control technology” that companies should use to limit the carbon-dioxide pollution that contributes to climate change. Energy efficiency, an approach backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, probably will emerge as the most cost-effective approach, the agency said in an e-mailed statement.