EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson discussed earth week and new rules to track emissions submitted Wednesday.

This morning on the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, and forty years after the founding of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA went to the Riverside Valley Community Garden in Harlem New York where she joined forces with Green for All, a organization working to build a green economy, and 100 local community members to plant and celebrate.

“Yesterday the Vice president did a whole energy efficiency announcement to kick off a week of earth day celebrations” Jackson said. She continued. “But I’m really excited for Monday, because it looks like at long last we’re going to get a glimpse of the US senate bill. And that’s real progress on greenhouse gas emissions”.

On Wednesday, The EPA submitted a proposed rule to the White House Office of Management and Budget that will establish what information is "emissions data" targeted at nearly 10,000 large emitters.

The new reporting rule that was finalized last fall will required large facilities to begin collecting emissions data on Jan. 1, 2010. The first emissions reports will be due in March 2011.

But tracking is just the first step in the battle to reduce emissions.

“My wish list for Earth Day is that the US congress move, the Senate move to enact comprehensive energy and climate legislation” Jackson said standing in the community garden. “It’s the last piece to the puzzle. It’s the move from spending a lot of public money on clean energy to really having the whole economy focused on transitioning to a clean energy future for our children and our grandchildren”.

The House passed the Waxman-Markey Energy bill back in June of 2009, but it has since been stalled in the Senate.

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) has been working with Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) for months to create a climate bill that can attract 60 votes.

Kerry is billing this as the last chance to get the comprehensive clean energy legislation in the US.

“This can be the year -- our last and best shot -- to find the 60 votes needed to reduce carbon pollution, and build a new energy economy that makes good on President Obama’s Copenhagen pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020.” Senator Kerry said today at his Earth Day celebrations.

Earth Day demonstrations will continue on Sunday, April 25th, when Earth Day Network and partner organizations are convening a climate rally on The National Mall to try and convince the Senate to pass a strong climate bill in 2010.

Forty years ago nearly 20 million demonstrated in the first ever earth day across the US.

“Obviously the Obama administration ties clean energy very much to Earth Day, because after all you can’t have clean energy if you’re not talking about energy that has fewer impacts on air pollution and water pollution and on land pollution” Jackson said.

But who or how emissions will be regulated remains to be seen.

“The endangerment finding went out earlier this year, a couple weeks ago we put out are final cars ruling, cars are now cleaner and more fuel efficient and for the first time ever we regulate greenhouse gas emission s from cars” Jackson said. She continued “The EPA’s going to have a role no matter whether it’s through legislation or regulation because we are the keepers of the emissions inventory. Beginning this year every one’s reporting their greenhouse gas emissions to EPA”. Jackson said before running of to be a guest on David Letterman.

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Energy Bill's Coming

Last summer a clean energy summit was put on by the Center For American Progress in Las Vegas. A who's who of the clean energy movement was there, from Harry Reid, to Al Gore, Van Jones who at the time was the Green Jobs Czar, and even T. Boone Pickens.

"We'll take up clean energy legalisation after health care". Reid said at the conference.

So here we are into 2010, a health care overhaul has been signed into law, and Obama has extended an olive branch to opponents of comprehensive energy legislation with a promise to open up areas of the Atlantic for off shore oil exploration.

I am being bombarded with emails form Al Gore's group, The Alliance for Climate Protection, announcing, "We've Got Next", but what exactly does We've got next mean?

The Supreme Court has ruled that the EPA has the ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions as part of the clean air act, but some are speculating that the Senates version of climate legislation will take away that authority.

What exactly this clean energy legislation will shape up to be remains to be seen, and whether or not clean energy legalisation will make good on Obama's campaign promises for a millions of green jobs, is far from known.