Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
5/15/2015
The Environmental Protection Agency late last week sent its proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for new-build coal-fired power plants to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. The rule, which would largely mandate the use of carbon capture technology on all new-build coal fired power plants, has been the source of much controversy through its development due to charges that CCS is not a proven technology and cannot or should not be considered a best source of emissions reduction. OMB’s review process has no set minimum period, but on average takes roughly 53 days, according to OMB’s website, putting the proposed regulation on track for EPA’s updated intended timeline. "The final standards are an important part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan and will put in place the first-ever national carbon pollution standards for new power plants. We expect to finalize this rule for new power plants and guidelines to reduce carbon pollution from existing and modified power plants in mid-summer," EPA spokeswoman Liz Pruchia said in a written statement this week.
Under the proposed NSPS, depending on whether plant operators decide to measure CO2 emissions over a 12- or 84-month operating period, individual coal units would have to cap emissions at between 1,000 and 1,100 lbs CO2/MWh (compared to the average uncontrolled coal unit, which emits upwards of 1,800 lbs CO2/MWh). Gas-fired turbines, depending on their size, must also meet a CO2 emissions limit of between 1,000 and 1,100 lbs MWh over a 12-month period. The rule also identifies natural gas combined cycle technology as the "best system of emission reduction" for new gas units and the "partial" capture and storage of roughly 30 to 50 percent of a plant’s emissions as the BSER technology for coal plants.
The proposed NSPS was to have been finalized in early January, but the EPA chose to push that back to allow time to also finalize proposed carbon regulations for modified and existing sources. The existing source standards, which set state-specific carbon emission reduction goals and require states to develop action plans to meet those goals, were due to be finalized by June 1. That rule has not yet been submitted to OMB, however, making it unlikely that the June 1 deadline will be met. Pruchia declined to comment as to when that rule is expected to be submitted to OMB.
