States assert lead role in US EPA's climate rules for existing
plants
Washington (Platts)--20Nov2013/230 pm EST/1930 GMT
State regulators on Wednesday called on the US Environmental
Protection Agency to "recognize the primacy of states" as it moves ahead
with creating a rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing
power plants.
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in a
resolution adopted at its meeting in Orlando, Florida, said that EPA
should "rely on both state utility and environmental regulators to lead
the creation of emission performance systems that reflect the policies,
energy needs, resource mix, economic conditions of each State and
region."
In adopting the resolution, state regulators found common ground on a
pair of competing resolutions that sought to respond to the Obama
administration's efforts to move ahead with regulating GHG emission from
existing power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.
In June, President Obama directed EPA to propose standards for
existing power plants no later than June 2014, requiring states to
submit plans under Section 111(d) to EPA on how they will implement
those standards by June 30, 2016. Obama's memo also instructed EPA to
work closely with states, saying that states "will play a central role"
in the process.
In the run-up to NARUC's meeting, Jon McKinney of the Public Service
Commission of West Virginia and Joshua Epel of the Colorado Public
Utilities Commission offered diverging resolutions on what approach EPA
should take and how to acknowledge coal's role in the power generation
fleet.
The compromise included elements of both resolutions, as well as new
language highlighting the leadership role states should play in the
process. The compromise also omitted or weakened some of the language
McKinney had sought to include highlighting coal's place in the electric
fleet, language that was not included in Epel's proposal.
The final resolution did not specifically note, for instance, that CO2
emissions would fall as coal plants are retired. And rather than saying
that maintaining coal plants "through the end of their useful lives" may
be in the best interest of ratepayers if those plants meet standards for
conventional pollutants like ozone, as McKinney proposed, the final
resolution said instead that maintaining "certain plants" within that
category "for a period of time" may benefit ratepayers.
The adopted resolution as well includes new language saying that "the
States need EPA under the relevant statutory factors, to issue
guidelines that avoid GHG emissions reductions that are not feasible."
--Bobby McMahon,
bobby.mcmahon@platts.com
--Edited by Derek Sands,
derek.sands@platts.com
© 2013 Platts, The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
To subscribe or visit go to:
http://www.platts.com
http://www.platts.com/latest-news/electric-power/washington/states-assert-lead-role-in-us-epas-climate-rules-21848037
|