Environmental

New York Adopts Rules Curbing Carbon at New Plants, Requiring Environmental Justice Analysis

New York’s State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) last week adopted rules that set limits on carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants as well as require new or expanding electric generating facilities in that state to evaluate the potential disproportionate impacts on nearby environmental justice communities.

The DEC adopted the rules (6 NYCRR Part 487 and 6 NYCRR Part 251) as required by the Power NY Act of 2011, which Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law in August 2011. They will take effect on July 12, 2012.

The rules received little pushback from opponents, likely because New York has only nine major coal units, coal generation accounts for just 6% of the state’s total generation, and no new coal plants are actively under development, one expert opined. The rules are expected to help “populations disproportionately affected by high asthma hospitalization,” DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said in a statement last week.

Curbing Carbon Dioxide

Part 251 requires carbon dioxide emission limits for proposed new major electric generating facilities that have a generating capacity of at least 25 MW, and for increases in capacity of at least 25 MW at existing power plants. For most new or expanded baseload fossil fuel–fired plants, the rules set a carbon dioxide emission limit of 925 lb/MWh (output-based limit) or 120 lb/MMBtu (input-based limit) and a carbon dioxide emission limit of 1,450 lb/MWh (output-based limit) or 160 lb/MMBtu (input-based limit) for simple cycle combustion turbines. They also allow each facility’s owner or operator to choose whether to comply with the relevant output-based or input-based emission limits, and provide for the DEC to set case-specific carbon dioxide emission limits for certain power plants that fire non-fossil fuels. Finally, plants will be required to keep records, monitor, and report emissions consistently with existing state and federal regulations.

The DEC’s proposal of the rules in January preceded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s April-proposed CO2 New Source Performance Standard (NSPS) under the federal Clean Air Act. “EPA’s proposed CO2 NSPS would apply nationwide and, like Part 251, would apply to certain new power plants. EPA’s proposal contains a primary CO2 emission standard of 1000 lbs/MWhr,” the DEC said. “Should EPA finalize its proposed CO2 NSPS for new power plants with such a standard, any new plant that meets DEC’s primary CO2 emission standard of 925 lbs/MWhr in Part 251 would also meet the requirements of EPA’s CO2 NSPS.”

Environmental Justice Regulation

The rules under Part 487 establish a regulatory framework to analyze environmental justice issues associated with the siting or expansion of major electric generating facilities. New York is now the only state in the nation to require an environmental justice analysis in the siting of major power plants.

Essentially, they will require applicants to evaluate the cumulative impact on air quality; evaluate the demographic, economic, and physical description of the community where the facility will be located, compared and contrasted to the county and adjacent communities; and evaluate significant and adverse disproportionate environmental impacts of a proposed major electric generating facility, if any, resulting from its construction or operation. The rules also require new plant applicants to avoid, minimize, or offset any significant adverse disproportionate environmental impacts to the maximum extent practicable.

Sources: POWERnews, DEC

—Sonal Patel, Senior Writer (@POWERmagazine)

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