* EPA expects Congress will one day take action on climate (Releads, adds background, quotes)

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency will roll out more regulations on greenhousegases and other pollution to help fight climate change, butthey will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senioradministration official said.

The agency "has a huge role to play in continuing the workto move from where we are now to lower carbon emissions," saidthe official, who did not want to be named as the EPA policiesare still being formed.

President Barack Obama, looking to play a leading role inglobal talks on greenhouse gas emissions, has long warned thatthe EPA would take steps to regulate emissions if Congressfailed to pass a climate bill.

The Senate has all but ruled out moving on greenhouse gasesthis year, even though the House of Representatives passed abill last year. In late July, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reidstripped climate provisions out of an energy bill, saying hecould not get one Republican vote for them.

The senior official stopped short of saying that the EPAalone would achieve Obama's goal of about 17 percent reductionsin greenhouse gases by 2020 from 2005 levels.

"With legislation you almost certainly get more emissionsreductions than you get with existing authorities" that the EPAcan use under the Clean Air Act, the official said.

And analysts say the EPA will not be able to achieve fardeeper cuts needed to help prevent the worst effects of climatechange like floods, droughts and heat waves.

Though Congress will not likely move in 2010, the EPAexpects it will in coming years, the official said.

NEW RULES

The EPA has worked with the Department of Transportation toset new fuel efficiency standards, as well as the firstgreenhouse gas emissions rules, on cars and light trucks. Morestandards for vehicles sold after 2017 are expected to bereleased later this month.

The EPA also has moved to regulate greenhouse gases fromstationary sources like power plants and factories.

Starting next year the EPA will require large power plants,manufacturers and oil refiners to get permits for releasinggreenhouse gas emissions, though details are still unclear.

The EPA will also require industrial sources to submitanalyses on the so-called "best available technology" theycould add to their plants to cut emissions under the existingClean Air Act.

The official said the EPA will put out guidance this monththat would help companies determine which technologies --perhaps moving to cleaner burning natural gas and away fromcoal -- would make the most sense.

In addition, EPA is working on rules to cut emissions ofmercury from coal-burning power plants and cement plants and ontoughening rules on coal ash. In combination, all of the rulescould help force inefficient coal plants into earlyretirement.

That could hit shares in big coal burners like AmericanElectric Power <AEP.N> and Southern Co. <SO.N>.

A recent Bernstein Research report said that upcoming EPArules could push 15 percent of current coal-fired power plantcapacity into early retirement by 2015.

OBSTACLES

EPA plans on smokestack emissions face obstacles inCongress and in the courts. Senator Jay Rockefeller, a WestVirginia Democrat, and other lawmakers hope to stop the EPAfrom regulating the emissions for two years.

The official said the EPA rules would provide regulatorycertainty that could help businesses get loans to build newplants. A two-year delay would only prolong the uncertainty,and hurt the chances of getting financing, the official said.

The EPA will soon roll out more regulations on bothgreenhouse gases and traditional pollutants like mercuryemissions that will help cut planet-warming pollution andemissions that more directly hurt human health, the officialsaid.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson plans to attend a meeting inMexico in October aimed at reducing emissions of methane, agreenhouse gas about 20 times more potent that carbon dioxide,the official said.

The meeting will come a month before representatives fromrich and developing countries convene for annual U.N. climatetalks in Cancun, Mexico.

(Editing by Walter Bagley)