Martin Schneider
GHG Monitor
3/14/2014
A bill directing state regulators to develop a plan for coal-fired power plants to meet potential Environmental Protection Agency emissions rules without switching to natural gas or implementing carbon capture and storage technology was approved by the Kentucky legislature this week and now awaits Gov. Steve Beshear’s signature. The bill, HB388, directs the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet to develop a plan for reducing emissions that is focused on “efficiency and other measures that can be undertaken at each coal-fired electric generating unit to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions without doing the following: (a) Switching from coal to other fuels; (b) Co-firing other fuels with coal; or (c) Limiting the utilization of the electric generating unit,” the bill states.
The bill notes that the state could implement a plan that is more or less stringent than federal standards. “In establishing a performance standard for any existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating unit, the cabinet shall consider, in all cases, whether to adopt less stringent performance standards or longer compliance schedules for those units than are established in applicable federal rules or guidelines,” the bill states, noting that the decision to adopt a less stringent performance standard or longer compliance schedules shall be based on the following:
- Consumer impacts including any disproportionate energy price increases on lower income populations;
- Unreasonable costs of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide resulting from the age, location, or basic process design of the electric generating unit;
- Physical difficulties with or the impossibility of implementing emission reduction measures for carbon dioxide;
- The absolute cost of applying the performance standard to the electric generating unit;
- The expected remaining useful life of the electric generating unit;
- The economic impacts of closing the electric generating unit, including expected job losses, if the unit is unable to comply with the performance standard; and
- Any other factors specific to the electric generating unit that make application of a less stringent performance standard or longer compliance schedule more reasonable.
