EPA proposes carbon pollution standard for new power plants

On March 27, 2012, EPA proposed a Carbon Pollution Standard for new power plants. This step, under the Clean Air Act, would set national limits on the amount of carbon pollution power plants built in the future can emit. The proposed standard, which does not apply to plants currently operating or new permitted plants that begin construction over the next 12 months, is intended to help minimize carbon pollution through the deployment of modern technologies.
 

The proposed rule would apply only to new fossil-fuel-fired electric utility generating units (EGUs). For the purposes of this rule, fossil-fuel-fired EGUs include fossil-fuel-fired boilers, integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) units and stationary combined cycle turbine units that generate electricity for sale and are larger than 25 megawatts.
 

The proposed rule limits emissions to an output-based 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour. EPA estimates that new natural gas combined cycle power plants should be able to meet the proposed standard without add-on controls and estimates that 95% of the natural gas combined cycle units built since 2005 would meet this standard.
 

According to EPA, new power plants that are designed to use coal or petroleum coke would be able to incorporate new technology, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to meet the standard. New power plants that use CCS would have the option to use a 30-year-average of carbon dioxide emissions to meet the proposed standard, rather than meeting the annual standard each year. Under the standard, plants that install and operate CCS right away would have the flexibility to emit more carbon dioxide in the early years and then lower amounts as they learn how to best optimize the controls. A company could also build a coal-fired plant and add CCS later, allowing them to emit more carbon dioxide for the first 10 years and then emit less for the next 20 years, as long as the average emissions meet the standard. EPA maintains that CCS is expected to become more widely available, which should lead to lower costs and improved performance over time.