Supreme Court Revives EPA Rule Targeting Coal Power Plants

EPA's breakdown of power plant pollution

On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (6-2) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can reinstate the  Cross State Air Pollution Rule, CSAPR, which allows EPA’s "cost-effective allocation of emissionsreductions among upwind states”  by requiring some state to clean up more than their fair share of pollution. CSAPR dictates each State’s emissions reduction goals and the Federal Implementation Plans to obtain those goals at the State level. However, the EPA had used computer modeling to generate emissions “budgets” for each upwind State without regard for the amount of pollution each state was contributing to a downwind problem, but based instead on the cost of remediation. Now the Supreme Court has confirmed requiring the level of cleanup to be based on cost and requiring more work to be done where the cost of capturing a ton of sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide was the lowest creating a pollution trading system.

Back in  August 2012 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled (2-1) that the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, CSAPR, exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority by requiring some state to clean up more than their fair share of pollution. The Supreme Court has overruled that decision. CASPR was intended to prevent pollution from one state from moving into other states and preventing them from meeting their air quality goals. CSAPR, when implemented will reduce SO2 emissions by 73% from 2005 levels and NOx emissions by 54% at the approximately 1,000 coal fired electrical generation plants in the eastern half of the country. The industry has indicated that many of these plants may be forced to close. This rule is intended to help downwind states unfairly impacted by upwind states attain their 24-Hour and/or Annual particulate pollution of 2.5 micrometers or less called PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and the 1997 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS. CSAPR will replace EPA's 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). 

The earth’s atmosphere is interconnected. That is accepted when it comes to carbon dioxide, but it also applies to industrial pollutants and soot. The EPA has estimated that just one-quarter of U.S. measured pollution emissions from coal-burning power plants are deposited within the contiguous U.S. The remainder enters the global cycle. Conversely, current estimates are that less than half of all measured coal pollution emissions deposited within the United States comes from American sources. According to the Mount Bachelor Observatory, Chinese exports include acid rain that falls in China, Korea, and Japan, and pollutants that enter the air stream including sulfates, NOx, black carbon, soot produced by cars, stoves, factories, and crop burning. EPA can now address these pollutants based on the cost of remediation instead of based on contribution by a state.

However, as a president, CSAPR may do much more. In the next two months the EPA is expected to propose a new sweeping set of Clean Air Act regulations to cut emission of carbon dioxide to fight global warming. According to the EPA the largest source of carbon dioxide is coal fired power plants, this decision will mark the end of the era of using coal to generate electricity in power plants. This era began with the oil crisis in 1972 and will end with CSAPR. However, using this decision EPA can allocate carbon dioxide “budgets” based on costs to meet the budget and potentially creates a national carbon trading market for carbon dioxide. In addition, it could create interstate trade and tariff  issues when allocating carbon dioxide and methane “budgets” in a world of greenhouse gas caps and trade markets.

from EIA

EPA Rule Targeting Coal Power Plants Voided by Court

On Tuesday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled (2-1) that the Cross State Air Pollution Rule, CSAPR, exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority by requiring some state to clean up more than their fair share of pollution. CSAPR defined each State’s emissions reduction goals and the Federal Implementation Plans to obtain those goals at the State level. However, the EPA had used computer modeling to generate emissions “budgets” for each upwind State without regard for the amount of pollution each state was contributing to a downwind problem, but based instead on the cost of remediation. The EPA was requiring the level of cleanup to be based on cost and requiring more work to be done where the cost of capturing a ton of sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide was the lowest creating a pollution trading system.

CSAPR, requiring reductions of sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions in coal fired plants, was intended to have gone into effect on January 1, 2012, but the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit granted a stay to the implementation of the CSAPR pending resolution of the legal challenges. Now the Court of Appeals has found the rule exceeded EPA authority. CSAPR, if it had been implemented would have reduce SO2 emissions by 73% from 2005 levels and NOx emissions by 54% at the approximately 1,000 coal fired electrical generation plants in the eastern half of the country. This rule was intended to help downwind states attain the 24-Hour and/or Annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and the 1997 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS. CSAPR would have replace EPA's 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) which will now remain in effect. Both these rules are intended to allow states to better control their particulate pollution.

According to the Lung Association, the two biggest air pollution threats in the United States are ozone and particle pollution. Other pollutants include carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and a variety of toxic substances including mercury that appear in smaller quantities. The EPA requires states to monitor air pollution under the NAAQS to assess the healthfulness of air quality and ensure that they meet minimum air quality standards. One standard of NAAQS is particulate pollution of 2.5 micrometers or less called PM2.5. Combustion engines and coal burning power plants are key contributors to PM2.5 particles, and according to the US EPA and World Health Organization, the smaller, finer pollutants measured by PM2.5 are especially dangerous for human health. Studies have shown that people are at increased risk of asthma, lung cancer, cardiovascular problems, birth defects and premature death from particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter that lodge deep in the lungs.

CASPR was intended to prevent pollution from one state from moving into other states and preventing them from meeting their air quality goals. Several states have been unable to meet the current particulate standard. PM2.5 particles can be either directly emitted or formed via atmospheric reactions. Primary particles are emitted from cars, trucks, and heavy equipment, as well as residential wood combustion, forest fires, and agricultural waste burning. The main components of secondary particulate matter are formed when pollutants like NOx and SO2 react in the atmosphere to form particles.

Currently, under the Clean Air Act the US EPA has established both annual and 24-hour PM2.5 air quality standards (as well as standards for other pollutants). The annual standard is 15 ug/m3 (an air quality index, AQI of 49). The 24-hr standard is 35 ug/m3 (an AQI of 99). In June of 2012 EPA announced that they are proposing stricter air quality particulate standards to go into effect in December 2012. The standard is anticipated to be 12-13 ug/m3. According to American Lung Association State of the Air Report, Pittsburgh, PA had the highest particle pollution in the nation on an annual basis. Seven cities averaged particulate levels higher than the 15 ug/m3 current standard allows: Bakersfield, CA; Hanford, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Visalia, CA; Fresno, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Phoenix, AZ. The American Lung Association in their latest report states that twenty cities actually have average year-round particle pollution below the current regulated level, but above the proposed EPA air quality standard of 12-13 ug/m3. The maximum 24 hour standard will remain unchanged at 35 ug/m3. While particulate pollution remains a problem the EPA has not been able to address the problem by regulation targeted at coal fired power plants.

The earth’s atmosphere is interconnected. That is accepted when it comes to carbon dioxide, but it also applies to industrial pollutants and soot. The EPA has estimated that just one-quarter of U.S. measured pollution emissions from coal-burning power plants are deposited within the contiguous U.S. The remainder enters the global cycle. Conversely, current estimates are that less than half of all measured coal pollution emissions deposited within the United States comes from American sources. According to the Mount Bachelor Observatory, Chinese exports include acid rain that falls in China, Korea, and Japan, and pollutants that enter the air stream including sulfates, NOx, black carbon, soot produced by cars, stoves, factories, and crop burning.

EPA Regulations and Electrical System Reliability

Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that today there will be two public hearings, on the proposed carbon pollution standard for new power plants. The hearings will be all day and held in Washington DC and Chicago. Under the new rule, new power plants will have to emit no more than 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour of energy produced. All existing plants and currently permitted and built in the next 12 months will be grandfathered and exempt from this new rule for now. According to the EPA, a coal plant currently produces about 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour of electricity. EPA says the rule creates “a path forward for new technologies to be deployed at future facilities that will allow companies to burn coal, while emitting less carbon pollution.” There is no commercially available technology for carbon sequestering that can meet this carbon standard for coal fired plants. EPA intends that carbon sequestering technology will be developed and can then be deployed on all future and existing coal burning plants or that the current crop of coal fired power plants will be the last.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s, NERC, whose mission is to ensure the reliability of the North American bulk power system, recently released their 2011 Reliability Assessment. NERC develops and enforces reliability standards; assesses the projected adequacy of the power generation capacity in the United States and Canada, and educates trains and certifies industry personnel. In 2007 the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted NERC the legal authority to enforce Reliability Standards with all U.S. users, owners, and operators of the bulk power system, and made compliance with those standards mandatory and enforceable.

The annual assessment of power generation capacity is intended to provide an independent view of the long term reliability of the North American power generation capacity while identifying trends, emerging issues, and concerns. NERC’s primary goal in their assessments is to make recommendations to ensure the reliability and adequacy of the electrical power supply. The most recent assessment found that the reliability of the power system remains adequate, though existing and proposed environmental regulations in the U.S. may significantly affect power system reliability. How significant an impact would depend on the scope, interpretation and timing of the rule implementation.

NERC identified potential impacts of recent environmental regulations as impacting the reliability of the U.S. power system. During the past year, EPA finalized four regulations that were specifically targeting coal fired power plants. The last was the carbon pollution standard that EPA is holding hearing for today, the others were in the news at various times throughout the past year. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulates mercury, arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide. MATS was finalized on December 21. 2011. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, CSAPR, which requires reductions of sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions in coal fired plants, was made final in July 2011 but at the end of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit granted a stay to the implementation of the CSAPR pending resolution of the legal challenges. In addition, EPA finalized the expanded Cooling Water Intake Structures Rule under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act that requires that National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for facilities with cooling water intake structures ensure that the location, design, construction, and capacity of the structures reflect the best technology available to minimize harmful impacts on the environment, effectively expanding the current regulation to cover existing electrical generation facilities.

NERC 2010 Special Reliability Scenario Assessment

According to the NERC, the Cooling Water Intake Structures Rule and MATS could potentially have the most significant and negative impact on electric system reliability. The degree of impact depends on how strictly the EPA implements these and the other rules. A tight compliance schedule with limited or no flexibility could take electrical capacity out of the system and that could impact reliability. Because industry plans for complying with these rules are not yet finalized, NERC was forced under its charter to identify the potential impact based on a modeling approach that was used in the October 2010 Special Reliability Scenario Assessment to identify potential failures in the power supply. Their analysis showed that while 2013 capacity impact would be negligible it was anticipated that between 40 and 69 gigawatts of existing coal fired electrical capacity would be removed by 2018, and between 6.5 and 7.4 gigawatts of capacity would be eliminated due to the operation of the additional environmental equipment needed for compliance. This is an anticipated impact of about 3%- 7% of the total electrical system capacity which NERC warns could threaten system reliability if the regulations are implemented too quickly and too strictly. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission now questions NERC's focus and statutory responsibilities, concluding that it "may have exceeded the functions" Congress intended for a reliability organization by evaluating electrical reliability impacts of these regulations and  other threats to the electrical capacity.

EPA Announces Record US CO2 Emissions

This week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of the annual U.S. greenhouse gas inventory. Overall the report shows US emissions of greenhouse gases increased by 3.2% in 2010 from 2009, but are still 3% below 2008 levels. Total gross US emissions of the six main greenhouse gases in 2010 were equivalent to 6,822 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and according to the EPA represents 18% of world CO2 equivalent emissions based on the InternationalEnergy Agency, IEA, estimates. Net (of the CO2 sinks of our forest land) US emissions of CO2 are reported to be 5,747 million metric tons down 4% since 2008. It is interesting to note that while worldwide CO2 emissions and US CO2 emissions were both down in 2009 from 2008 levels, worldwide CO2 emissions increased 5% from 2008 levels while US CO2 emissions are still 4% below 2008 levels. In the past 20 years, the US is estimated to have increased CO2 equivalent emissions by 10% as our share of worldwide emissions has fallen.  The peak of CO2 emissions in the US was 2007.

Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. The US collects data and estimates CO2 equivalent emission because in 1992, the United States signed and ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC.  The UNFCCC dictates the methodology to calculate and track greenhouse gasses looking only at CO2, CH4 and N2O. Stratospheric ozone depleting substances, CFCs, HCFCs, and halons are not required to be included in national greenhouse gas emission inventories, they are tracked under another treaty.

Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and ozone (O3). Several classes of halogenated substances that contain fluorine, chlorine, or bromine are also greenhouse gases, but they are, for the most part, solely a product of industrial activities. Although the direct greenhouse gases CO2, CH4, and N2O occur naturally in the atmosphere human populations have changed their atmospheric concentrations by burning fossil fuel, removing forest cover, breathing, raising animals. It is reported by the IEA that concentrations of these greenhouse gases have increased globally by 39%, 158%, and 19%, respectively since 1750.

TheInventory of U.S.Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2010 is the latest annual report that the United States has submitted to the UNFCCC, as it tries to orchestrate intergovernmental efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions. EPA prepares the annual report in collaboration with experts from multiple federal agencies and now with the data from the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program launched in October 2009, requiring the reporting of carbon dioxide data from large stationary emission sources, as well as suppliers of fuel that would emit greenhouse gases if used, the US estimates of greenhouse gases should be more accurate. Of the greenhouse gasses generated in the US 33% is from the generation of electricity and 26% is from transportation.

The EPA and the Department of Transportation’s NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) new millage and emissionstandards for automobiles and light trucks for model year 2012 through 2016 require these vehicles to meet an estimated combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per mile in model year 2016, equivalent to 35.5 miles per gallon (mpg) if the automotive industry were to meet this CO2 level all through fuel economy improvements. In March the EPA announced the Carbon PollutionStandard for NewPower Plants that limits the amount of CO2 that can be produced for each megawatt of electricity produced.  That standard effectively changes the fuel of choice for all future power capacity additions to natural gas, nuclear, or the renewable category (with government subsidies). All existing plants and currently permitted and built in the next 12 months will be grandfathered and exempt from this new rule for a period of time.  Reductions in CO2 generation from power plants will not improve human health. CO2 is vital for photosynthesis and the environment and has no direct negative human health effects. Humans produce CO2 and exhale it so it is present at levels much exceeding atmospheric concentrations in the lungs.

 In the past year EPA has issued two other regulations targeted at coal fired power plants, EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, CSAPR, and Mercury and Air Toxic's Standard, MATS.  CSAPR which requires reductions of sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions in coal fired plants was made final in July but at the end of last year,the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit granted a stay to the implementation of the CSAPR pending resolution of the legal challenges. MATSregulates mercury, arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide and was finalized on December 21. 2011. Both of these regulations are anticipate to have direct human health benefits.  Nonetheless, appears that CO2 and to a lesser extent the other greenhouse gases are the EPA’s primary focus.  However as can be seen above, US CO2 emissions is growing slowly if at all and accuracy in data collection, and increased US regulation of CO2 emissions from power plants and automobile millage standards is not going to slow world CO2 emissions growth.   

  

Coal Production, the EPA and Atmospheric Pollution

Some of the nation's coal-fired power plants were originally built as petroleum fired. Both types of electrical power plants were built as the nation grew and industrialized in the first half of the 20th century when coal and oil were the most abundant and cheapest available fuel. However, by 2009 coal burning power plants supplied 45% of the electricity produced, and petroleum supplied about 1%. After the end of World War II the use of coal for rail and water transportation and for heating declined. Coal demand grew starting growing again in the 1960’s with the post-War growth in American industry and increased use for electricity generation. In 1950, U.S. coal production was 508 million metric tons. In 2010, U.S. coal production was 1,050 million metric tons, but what appears as a smooth steady rise did not happen that way.

The use of coal rather than petroleum for electrical generations is a direct result of the 1973 Oil Embargo. In an attempt to regain energy independence after the gas rationing, and oil shortages of the Embargo, the nation turned to its vast coal reserves. Between 1973 and 1976, coal production increased by 14.4%. In 1978, the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act mandated conversion of most existing oil-burning power plants to coal or natural gas. Thirty years later our point of view has changed.

The coal burning power plants emit 48 tons of mercury annually as well as particulates and other pollutants. In addition, coal combustion adds a significant amount of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per unit of heat energy, more than does the combustion of other fossil fuels. According to a combined report from the U.S. EPA and the Department of Energy, coal generates 2.1 pounds of CO2 per kWh while natural gas generates 1.3 pounds of CO2 per kWh. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, launched the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program in October 2009, requiring the reporting of carbon dioxide, CO2, data from large stationary emission sources, as well as suppliers of fuel that would emit GHGs if used. EPA intends to promulgate CO2 regulations in the coming year based on the data collected, but in the meantime has guidance on CO2 emissions permitting.

In the past year, EPA finalized two regulations that were specifically targeting coal fired power plants. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulates mercury, arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide. MATS was finalized on December 21. 2011. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, CSAPR, which requires reductions of sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions in coal fired plants was made final in July but at the end of last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit granted a stay to the implementation of the CSAPR pending resolution of the legal challenges. CSAPR, if eventually implemented will reduce SO2 emissions by 73% from 2005 levels and NOx emissions by 54% at the approximately 1,000 coal fired electrical generation plants in the eastern half of the country. It should be clear that EPA’s goal is to reduce if not eliminate the use of coal for power generation.

The composition and total of the net summer generating capacity for electricity in the U. S. has changed in the past decade. Since 1999 the generating capacity for natural gas has more than doubled while the generating capacity for coal fired electrical generators has remained constant. In 2010 natural gas was used to produce 24% of U. S. electricity. Coal was used to product 45 % of electricity. However, the summer net generating capacity of natural gas now exceeds coal. With the tightening and expansion of regulations by the EPA under the Clean Air Act of coal powered generating plants for carbon emissions, mercury, arsenic, acid gases and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule the federal government looks likely to end electrical generation from coal as a fuel source. This will only be accelerated by the recent fall in natural gas prices.

In 2010, U.S. coal production was 1,050 million metric tons with 92.5% of the coal used to generate electricity. Without electrical generation there is little demand for coal. The EPA’s MATS and CSPAR regulation and the forthcoming greenhouse gas regulations will eliminate the economic feasibility of coal fired electrical generation plants and all but end coal mining in the United States (at least for this generation). However our nation requires power, and in the foreseeable future that is not going to change. Regulation can also be used to limit other sources of energy- the Keystone XL pipeline and Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) bans. The cost of power is a key factor in determining the cost of production, and the cost of living. To a large extent we have exported manufacturing to China and other emerging economies. China’s use of coal for electricity generation was 1.29 billion metric tons last year, but their pollution control was weak.

The earth’s atmosphere is interconnected. That is accepted when it comes to carbon dioxide or the chemicals that erode the ozone layer, but it also applies to industrial pollutants. The EPA has estimated that just one-quarter of U.S. mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants are deposited within the contiguous U.S. The remainder enters the global cycle. Conversely, current estimates are that less than half of all mercury deposition within the United States comes from American sources. According to the Mount Bachelor Observatory, other Chinese exports include acid rain that falls in China, Korea, and Japan, and pollutants that enter the air stream including sulfates, NOx, black carbon, soot produced by cars, stoves, factories, and crop burning. It seems that EPA can reduce our economic growth without actually reducing the air pollution we experience.