Dive Brief:
- Competing resolutions recommending how the Environmental Protection Agency should develop its plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants will be considered by state regulators later this month. EPA plans to issue proposed rules by June of 2014.
- One resolution to be considered at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' meeting in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 17-20 is sponsored by Jon McKinney of the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. The other is offered by Joshua Epel of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Dive Insight:
Both have some common language, such as EPA's guidelines "shall not intrude on the states' jurisdiction over integrated resource planning or otherwise mandate modifications to the mix of fuels in existing and future state generation portfolios." But the key difference between the two is that McKinney calls for compliance flexibilty on a state-by-state basis. "The states need EPA ... to issue guidelines that are based on CO2 control measures achievable at affected power plants that will produce measurable reductions in CO2 emissions at these sources," his draft resoluion says. It also calls for standards that "provide for states to be able to demonstrate less stringent emission standards and longer compliance schedules for affected facilities."
