On 20 September the US Environmental Protection Agency issued a new proposal for controlling carbon pollution from new power plants. After considering more than 2.5 million comments from the public about the 2012 proposal and consideration of recent trends in the power sector, EPA is changing some aspects of its approach, by proposing to set separate standards for gas-fired and coal-fired units.
The new action will establish separate standards for fossil fuel-fired electric steam generating units (utility boilers and integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) units) and for natural gas-fired stationary combustion turbines. These proposed standards reflect separate determinations of the best system of emission reduction (BSER) adequately demonstrated for utility boilers and IGCC units and for natural gas-fired stationary combustion turbines. In contrast, the April 2012 proposal relied on a single standard and a single BSER determination for all new fossil fuel-fired units. In addition, the applicability requirements proposed no differ from those in the original proposal. In the light of these and other differences, the EPA is issuing a final notice that rescinds the original proposal, as well as issuing this new proposal.
This action proposes a standard of performance for utility boilers and IGCC units based on partial implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the BSER. The proposed emission limit for sources over 25 MW is 1100 lb CO2/MWh on a gross output basis.
This action also proposes standards of performance for natural gas-fired stationary combustion turbines based on modern, efficient natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) technology as the BSER. The proposed emission limits for those sources are 1000 lb CO2/MWh for larger units and 1100 lb CO2/MWh for smaller units. The EPA is not proposing at this time standards of performance for modified or reconstructed sources.
Since the announcement EPA chief Gina McCarthy has addressed concerns raised in some quarters by emphasising that power plants already in operation will not be required to be retrofitted with equipment to capture carbon emissions. "CCS ... is not seen, at least at this stage, as an add-on that could be used to put on an existing conventional coal facility," McCarthy commented. She said CCS technology is only an effective technology when it is designed as part of a new plant. However the rule also contains a provision that would allow power companies to build new coal plants if they agree to install carbon-capture technology within a certain amount of time.
Opposition
Coal and utility industry groups have denounced the rules, and complained that the agency was forcing the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which they say is unproven and expensive.
Some companies expressed fears that EPA rules expected to be announced by June 2014 would call for conventional coal plants already in operation to be retrofitted with CCS technology.
Robert Duncan, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, denounced the proposal as effectively a ban on US electricity generators building new coal-fired power plants unless they have technology to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA's proposed rule has stung the coal industry, which is already reeling from a loss of market share due to less expensive natural gas, said Duncan. Part of the Obama administration's controversial climate-change rule, the EPA's ruling has soured already-strained relations between the White House and the coal industry. "They had a great opportunity to go to the next generation of carbon sequestration, which will prove as part of a solution, but they went too far, they over-reached," he said.
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