Bill to cut power plant emissions restored

 

Apr 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Kathie Durbin The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.

A bill that would set strict limits on carbon- dioxide emissions from new electrical generating plants in Washington is back on track after it was derailed last week by a House committee chairman who favored a different approach to reducing greenhouse gases.

Over the weekend, the House Appropriations Committee restored the language that was in the climate change bill when it passed the Senate March 10.

Late Monday, the Senate Ways and Means Committee added the same language to a separate clean energy bill. House Bill 1303 has passed the House and is awaiting action in the Senate.

State Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, prime sponsor of the climate change bill, said the rewrite of Senate Bill 6001 by Rep. Jeff Morris, chairman of the House Technology, Energy and Communications Committee, made it -unacceptable to him. "It completely became a coal bill," he said.

The Senate bill sets carbon emission limits at a level that would allow most newer natural gas plants to operate but would be impossible for conventional coal-fired plants to meet -- 1,100 pounds of greenhouse gases per megawatt hour, or the average for a natural gas plant, whichever is lower.

The rewrite by Morris, D-Mount Vernon, would have allowed utilities to meet that new performance standard by buying carbon credits or making payments to a third party to reduce emissions from other sources. His committee's -action kept the bill alive Friday.

But it also kept open the possibility that a Richland company could proceed with building a new coal gasification plant in Kalama without proving that it could successfully inject carbon emissions into the ground. The technology, known as carbon sequestration, is still experimental, and the company said it could not provide that guarantee.

Pridemore's bill would require such assurance as a condition of state approval of the project. That language is now restored.

Morris sponsored the 2004 bill that established Washington's carbon dioxide mitigation program for power plants, the first in the nation.

The quick reversal signaled that the Democratic leadership is committed to seeing a strong carbon dioxide performance standard pass in the 2007 Legislature. Both House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, used their clout to get the Senate language restored.

Kathie Durbin works in The Columbian's Olympia bureau. Reach her at 360-586-2437 or e-mail kathie.durbin@columbian.com.

Update

--Previously: A Senate bill that would set strict limits on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants was gutted in a House committee Friday. A rewrite would have allowed utilities to meet the limits by buying carbon offsets.

--What's new: The House Appropriations Committee restored the original Senate language, and the Senate Ways and Means Committee added the original Senate language to a separate House bill.

--What's next: The Senate bill, SB 6001, is awaiting action in the House. The House bill, HB 1303, is awaiting action in the Senate. One or both bills must pass both chambers by April 13.