POWER October 2013 - 62

Emissions
Turning the Heat Up on Carbon
Emissions
In June the White House issued a " Climate Action Plan " that increases the pressure
on power generators to reduce carbon emissions. U.S. utilities have already
announced the retirement of 60 GW of coal-fired generation by 2020 as a result
of current regulations. Unless technological innovation can beat the regulatory
clock (which seems unlikely), more early retirements are ahead.
Brandon Bell, PE
A
lthough there have been previous attempts
at the federal level to regulate
carbon dioxide (CO2
) emitted from
U.S. coal-fired power plants (remember the
Waxman-Markey Bill, the American Clean
Energy and Security Act of 2009?), after a
lull in action on the greenhouse gas (GHG)
regulation front, the past year has seen accelerated
action. Pressure to regulate GHGs in
general and CO2
from coal-fired power plants
in particular (because they are the largest stationary
source of the gas) has been building
for well over a decade, as a quick review of
the regulatory history shows. But now, in part
because of the way the administration is approaching
GHG regulation, the likelihood of
unattainable limits on emissions from coalfired
generation becoming final rules within a
mere three years has increased significantly.
We got to this point by a circuitous route.
The question now is where U.S. coal-fired
generation owners go from here.
A Brief History of CO2 Regulation
By now, most readers are familiar with the
latest development in the history of attempts
to regulate GHGs. On June 25, 2013, a Presidential
Memorandum issued by the White
House gave the green light for the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to further
increase the regulation of carbon emissions
from electric generating units (EGUs). This
memo was conveniently timed, as it was issued
exactly one year from the cutoff date
of the comment period for the Carbon Pollution
Standard ( " Standards of Performance
for Greenhouse Gas Emissions for New Stationary
Sources: Electric Generating Units " )
and days before implementation of the third
step of the Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule
( " Prevention of Significant Deterioration and
Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule " ) on
July 1, 2013. In addition to urging the EPA
to expedite publication of the final Carbon
Pollution Standard for new sources, the Climate
Action Plan memo opened the door for
regulating carbon emissions from modified,
reconstructed, and existing EGUs.
But the stage for this action was set by previous
actions and decisions. . . .
Massachusetts v. EPA
In the Presidential Memorandum the White
House outlines the actions already taken by
the EPA to regulate the emissions of carbon
pollution from the transportation sector. The
EPA has a timeline that limits GHG emissions
from new cars and light trucks through 2025
and heavy duty trucks through 2018 using the
Clean Air Act (CAA) to enforce these limitations.
But how exactly is the EPA able to use
the CAA, which didn't include CO2
as a pollutant,
and the regulation of mobile engines to
enforce new GHG standards on EGUs?
In October 1999, several parties petitioned
the EPA to regulate GHG emissions from new
motor vehicles to reduce the effects of global
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POWER October 2013

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