[Vision2020] For New Generation of Power Plants, a New Emission Rule From the E.P.A.

[Ted Moffett]

New York Times article on the new EPA ruling on greenhouse gases below.

Too little too late, but nonetheless better than nothing; and if I
understand correctly, the first time on a federal level that
greenhouse gases have been directly regulated.

I wonder if this new rule will survive for long.  I watched Senator
Inhofe from Oklahoma today on C-Span proposing overturning the EPA's
authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Inhofe has recently released a
book, "The Greatest Hoax" regarding anthropogenic climate change;
perhaps the fact a man who is woefully ignorant of the science
regarding climate change is a US senator, is the real hoax!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/science/earth/epa-sets-greenhouse-emission-limits-on-new-power-plants.html

For New Generation of Power Plants, a New Emission Rule From the E.P.A.
By FELICITY BARRINGER
Published: March 27, 2012

The Obama administration’s proposed rule to control greenhouse gas
emissions from new power plants — the first ever — could go far toward
closing out the era of old-fashioned coal-burning power generation.

The draft rule, unveiled on Tuesday by Lisa P. Jackson, the
Environmental Protection Agency administrator, would limit carbon
dioxide emissions from new power plants to 1,000 pounds per
megawatt-hour.

Recently built power plants fired by natural gas already easily meet
the new standards, so the rule presents little obstacle for new gas
plants. But coal-fired plants face a far greater challenge, since no
easily accessible technology can bring their emissions under the
limit. Coal-fired plants are a major source of emissions associated
with global warming. The new rules do not apply to existing plants.

The coal industry is an economic mainstay of many local economies, and
the rule was denounced from West Virginia to Wyoming and on the
Republican presidential campaign trail on Tuesday.

“This E.P.A. is fully engaging in a war on coal, even though this
country will continue to rely on coal as an affordable, stable and
abundant energy source for decades to come,” said Senator Joe Manchin
III, a West Virginia Democrat and former governor. “This approach
relies totally on cheap natural gas, and we’ve seen that bubble burst
before.”

The declining price of natural gas has made it the fuel of choice in
recent years for companies planning new plants. The E.P.A.’s move
follows a shift that is already unfolding in the electric power
market.

The proposed rule is rooted in a 2007 directive from the Supreme Court
instructing the E.P.A. to decide whether carbon dioxide was a
pollutant under the Clean Air Act. In late 2009, the agency declared
that it was, and so had to be regulated.

It took more than two years for the agency to work out the regulatory details.

To open an avenue to companies still planning to build coal plants,
for example, the E.P.A. said it would allow new ones to begin
operating with higher levels of emissions as long as the average
annual emissions over a period of 30 years met the standard.

In a statement, Ms. Jackson called the proposed rules “a common-sense
step to reduce pollution in the air, protect the planet for our
children and move us into a new era of American energy.”

Environmental groups generally applauded the standards, although some
expressed disappointment with the agency’s decision not to regulate
existing power plants for the moment.

“This Environmental Protection Agency action means any new coal plants
built in America must use modern, state-of-the-art carbon pollution
controls,” Frances Beinecke, the president of the Natural Resources
Defense Council, said in a statement. “The logical next step is to
improve the aging fleet of existing coal-fired power plants, which
remain the major source of industrial carbon pollution in our
country.”

In a conference call with reporters, Ms. Jackson said that if such
action were to be taken in the future, the agency would thoroughly
consult with the industry and all others affected.

Rick Santorum, a Republican presidential contender and a coal industry
supporter, derided the proposed rule.

“President Obama’s environmental agenda kills American jobs, creates
higher energy prices and weakens our nation’s security,” he said.
“America is the Saudi Arabia of coal, and we could create our own
energy if the government would let us.  Instead, Barack Obama would
rather pick winners and losers in the energy field.”

At Peabody Energy, the largest coal mining company in the United
States, Vic Svec, a spokesman, questioned the legality of the
standard, arguing that the E.P.A. was supposed to set standards based
on existing technology and that technology was not ready.

A standard of 1,000 pounds per megawatt-hour for coal plants would
“require something that doesn’t exist as a commercial technology,” he
said.

But the lack of a commercial technology for carbon capture is one
reason that the E.P.A. could not realistically impose such a
requirement on existing plants and decided to push the challenge into
the future.

Carbon capture has so far proved too expensive to be practical because
the chemical work of separating carbon dioxide from the other
components of exhaust gas requires large amounts of energy.

By some estimates, what is today a 1,000-megawatt coal plant might
yield only 700 megawatts after some of its energy went into a carbon
capture plant in the form of steam and electricity. And sequestering
the gas underground could prove difficult.

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in an
interview that ending coal-fired generation as it now exists should be
the whole point. “It’s a rule that follows the marketplace,” he said,
adding: “Right now, next to no coal plants are being built. This
basically means that new coal plants are going extinct.”

As for coal plants built in the 1970s or earlier, he said, “we can put
them in our rear-view mirror.”

Matthew L. Wald contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: March 27, 2012

An earlier version of this article misstated the new Environmental
Protection Agency limit for carbon dioxide emissions from new energy
plants. It is 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per
megawatt-hour of electricity produced, not 1000 tons.
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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett