Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
achievable through application of the best system of emission reduction
that has been ―adequately demonstrated.‖ The Administrator can take
costs, health and environmental impacts, and energy requirements into
account in determining what has been adequately demonstrated.
The standard for new EGUs proposed in 2012 would have set a limit
of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) per megawatt-hour of
electricity generated—a standard that can be met by new natural gas
combined cycle plants without add-on emission controls. Coal-fired
plants, however, would find it impossible to meet the standard without
controls to capture, compress, and store underground about 45% of the
CO2 they produce—a technology referred to as carbon capture and
storage (CCS).
Many in the electric power and coal industries view the 2012
proposed standard as effectively prohibiting the construction of new coal-
fired power plants. Whether CCS technology has been adequately
demonstrated is one question they raise. Other issues involve the cost of
compliance, the increased energy required to capture and store carbon,
and whether the agency should propose separate standards for gas-fired
and coal-fired units. These questions may be addressed in the re-proposal,
which the President directed to be issued no later than September 20,
2013.
In its 2012 proposal, EPA maintained that the components of CCS
technology have been demonstrated on numerous facilities. Despite this,
the agency concluded that no new facilities (other than DOE-sponsored
demonstration projects) will actually use CCS in the next 10 years. Given
the projected low cost and abundance of natural gas, all new fossil-fueled
units are likely to be powered by gas, according to EPA.
Interest in the power plant proposal extends far beyond the electric
power and energy industries. Power plants are the first category of
sources for which EPA has proposed to require CCS, but the agency
expects to propose standards for the GHG emissions of other industries in
the next few years. What the agency promulgates in this instance may
serve as a precedent.
The potential impacts of the rule also extend beyond new sources,
because the agency is obligated under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air
Act to promulgate guidelines for existing sources within a category when
it promulgates GHG standards for new sources. Using these guidelines,
states will be required to develop performance standards for existing
sources. These could be less stringent than the NSPS—taking into
account, among other factors, the remaining useful life of the existing
source—but the standards could have far greater impact than the NSPS,
given that they will affect all existing sources.
Many in Congress oppose GHG emission standards. In the 112th
Congress, the House passed bills (H.R. 1, H.R. 910, and H.R. 3409) that
would have prohibited EPA from promulgating GHG emission standards
