By a vote of 229 to 183, the House approved a bill that would upend EPA’s current approach to controlling emissions of GHGs from fossil-fuel power plants.  Since there is virtually no chance a companion bill would pass in the Senate, the House’s action is best viewed as a statement of support by the House majority for continuation of low-cost coal-fired electricity and a repudiation of EPA’s current direction for regulating GHGs from new and existing power plants. 

The bill was sponsored by two representatives from coal-mining states.

Proposed NSPS would be halted

One clear intent of the bill is to eliminate the possibility that the EPA will finalize its proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for new coal-fired power plants, which is based on the use of partial carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).  While the EPA has argued that the CCS meets CAA’s requirement for the best system of emission reduction (BSER) that has been “adequately demonstrated,” others contend that this technology has yet to be shown to be commercially viable, and requiring it would effectively end the construction of new coal-fired power plants.  The House bill would nullify EPA’s proposal.

New BSER criteria

Specifically, the Electricity Security and Affordability Act (House of Representatives (H.R.) bill 3826) would amend the CAA by requiring that the EPA implement GHG emissions standards separately for new coal-fired and new gas-fired plants.  Furthermore, any such standards must meet the following conditions:

• They must have been achieved on average for at least one continuous 12-month period (excluding planned outages) by each of at least six units within the individual categories.
• The units must each be located at a different electric generating station in the United States.
• The units must collectively represent the operating characteristics of electric generation at different locations in the United States.
• The units must have been operated for the entire 12-month period on a full commercial basis.
• No results obtained from any demonstration project may be used in setting the standard.

Modified/reconstructed plant

Regarding the regulation of existing power plants that are modified or reconstructed, H.R. 3826 would empower Congress, not the EPA, to set an effective date for such regulations.  Furthermore, before the EPA could issue the regulations, the bill would require that the Agency submit a report to Congress containing:

• The text of such rule or guidelines;
• The economic impacts of such rule or guidelines, including the potential effects on economic growth, competitiveness, and jobs in the United States; electricity ratepayers, including low-income ratepayers in affected states; required capital investments and projected costs for operation and maintenance of new equipment required to be installed; and the global economic competitiveness of the United States; and
• The amount of GHG emissions that such rule or guidelines are projected to reduce as compared with overall global GHG emissions.

Proven technologies

Reps. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), the bill’s sponsors, state that it is not their intention to prevent the EPA from issuing GHG emissions standards for power plants.  Rather, the legislation simply requires that any such standards be based on “proven technologies.”

“EPA could achieve significant and steady reductions in greenhouse gas emissions without sending price shocks throughout the economy by requiring best in class technology that is available for use today,” said the representatives.  “Gasification and supercritical coal are proven technologies suitable for large-scale use, effective for reducing emissions and available for new plant construction.  Compared to older plants they replace, advanced plants with these technologies use at least a third less coal to generate the same amount of electricity and emit 35 percent less carbon dioxide.”

H.R. 3628 is available at http://www.thomas.gov.