Clean Power Plan

Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power

On August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a much-anticipated suite of regulations, featuring the final Clean Power Plan’s guidelines for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d). This package has sparked great interest, and early reactions run the gamut from enthusiastic support to entrenched opposition. […]

Reaction from utilities, environmental groups, and governmental leaders following the August 3 release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final Clean Power Plan rule was mixed. Some, such as Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good, pointed to the progress that has already been made in recent years to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, noting that the […]

Editor’s note (Aug. 3): Adds compliance cost details, key changes The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final Clean Power Plan will seek to tamp down the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the power sector by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030—about 9% more ambitious than its original proposal. The first-ever final national standards to limit […]

With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expected to issue its final rule on power plant greenhouse gas emissions under the administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) early next week, reports strongly suggest the revisions will extend compliance deadlines in response to power sector complaints about a too-aggressive schedule in the proposed rule. A July 28 report […]

In a report released this week, M.J. Bradley & Associates found that in 2013 power plant SO2 emissions were 80% lower and NOx emissions were down 74% compared to releases in 1990—the year Congress passed major amendments to the Clean Air Act. The report, Benchmarking Air Emissions of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in […]

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy remains firm in her resolve to create a landmark rule to reduce carbon emissions from power plants later this year. Speaking at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C., during an event sponsored by AREVA and hosted by The Christian Science Monitor, McCarthy said, “Last week’s ruling will […]

Wind is no longer a niche alternative energy industry, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) CEO Tom Kiernan told attendees at WINDPOWER 2015.  Despite policy hurdles, the wind sector has seen exponential growth and formidable cost reductions; it has the government’s endorsement for a low-carbon future; and it’s making up an ever-larger share of the nation’s […]

Voters in Colorado and stakeholders in Minnesota forced through unique managed generation transformation plans that paved the way for aggressive state renewable and clean energy standards—inadvertently pushing their utilities out in front of proposed and now actual federal policies. As the power industry struggles with rising costs of adaptation, many beleaguered executives are anxiously focusing […]

A bill that would halt the Clean Power Plan’s compliance deadlines until litigation on the rule has been completed has passed the U.S. House of Representatives with a 247–180 vote.  The Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 2042) now goes to the Senate, where the GOP is working on a similar measure to suspend the Environmental Protection […]