US senators to offer bills to cut GHG emissions from coal plants

Washington (Platts)--18Apr2007

Two bills are expected to be introduced in the US Senate Thursday aimed
at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants from coal-fired
power plants.

Delaware Democrat Tom Carper plans to revive his Clean Air Planning Act
aimed at cutting power-plant emissions of mercury, nitrogen oxides, sulfur
dioxide and carbon dioxide. The new version of the bill will call for stricter
limits on power plant air pollution and would employ an emissions cap and
allowance trading system to help plant owners cut CO2 output.

Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee on Thursday also plans to offer a
bill to restrict emissions of SO2, NOx, mercury and CO2 from coal-fired power
plants through a cap and trade mechanism, according to the senator's staff.

While the limits on the emissions are expected to track those in the
Carper bill, Alexander's legislation will differ in how emission allowances
are distributed and who must pay to comply with the pollution restrictions, an
aide to Alexander said.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer,
Democrat-California, said the development of the bills from both parties to
cap power plant pollution shows a "consensus developing" in the committee to
move on legislation to address climate change.

In a Wednesday news conference, Boxer said that coal-fired power plants
account for 40% of the nation's CO2 emissions and that once support emerges in
committee for a bill to address greenhouse gases she would advance it to the
full Senate--even if the bill addresses only one sector.

"Everything is on the table," said Boxer, a cosponsor of a bill to cap
GHG emissions on economy wide basis. "I want to bring to the floor a bill that
can do good."

--Cathy Cash, cathy_cash@platts.com