Download or read book EPAs Clean Power Plan written by Joshua T. Graham and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 3 August, President Obama and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Clean Power Plan a historic and important step in reducing carbon pollution from power plants that takes real action on climate change. Shaped by years of unprecedented outreach and public engagement, the final Clean Power Plan is fair, flexible and designed to strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy. With strong but achievable standards for power plants, and customised goals for states to cut the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, the Clean Power Plan provides national consistency, accountability and a level playing field while reflecting each state's energy mix. It also shows the world that the United States is committed to leading global efforts to address climate change. This book discusses the highlights and provides a review of the Clean Power Plan's implications.
Download or read book Epa s Proposal to Repeal the Clean Power Plan written by Congressional Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-03-11 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2015, when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated the Clean Power Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fueled electric power plants, it concluded that the benefits of reducing emissions would outweigh the costs by a substantial margin under the scenarios analyzed. EPA estimated benefits ranging from $31 billion to $54 billion in 2030 and costs ranging from $5.1 billion to $8.4 billion in 2030, when the rule would be fully implemented. In proposing to repeal the rule in October 2017, EPA revised the estimates of both its benefits and costs, finding in most cases that the benefits of the proposed repeal would outweigh the costs of the proposed repeal. However, EPA found that under other assumptions, the costs of the proposed repeal would outweigh the benefits of the proposed repeal. This report examines the changes in EPA's methodology that led to the revised conclusions about how benefits compare to costs. Three changes to the benefits estimates of the proposed repeal drive the agency's new conclusions. First, it considered only domestic benefits of the Clean Power Plan in its main analysis, excluding benefits that occur outside the United States. Second, it used different discount rates, including one higher rate, than the 2015 analysis to state the present value of future climate benefits expected from the Clean Power Plan. Third, the analysis reduced some estimates of the human health "co-benefits"-that is, the benefits resulting from pollutant reductions not directly targeted by the Clean Power Plan. Specifically, several scenarios assumed no health benefits below specified thresholds for some air pollutants. EPA also changed the accounting treatment of demand-side energy efficiency savings. EPA's 2015 analysis treated savings from energy efficiency measures as a negative cost, whereas the 2017 analysis treated them as a benefit. Using the terminology of the proposed repeal, EPA moved energy savings from the cost savings estimate to the forgone benefits estimate. There was no change in the difference between benefits and costs because the benefits and costs increased by the same amount. This change took on more significance in a separate analysis that EPA conducted to analyze the cost savings of the proposed repeal. EPA based one set of benefit-cost estimates of the proposed repeal on its 2015 power sector modeling, which does not reflect changes that have since occurred in the power sector. EPA based the other set of benefit-cost estimates on more recent power sector projections from the Annual Energy Outlook 2017. The power sector changes subsequent to 2015 are potentially important and include changes in expected electricity demand, expected growth in electricity generation by renewable energy technologies, retirements of older generating units, changes in the prices and availability of different fuels and renewables, and state and federal regulations. While modeling differences render the two sets of estimates incomparable, both sets of estimates show a range of costs exceeding benefits (i.e., net costs), and benefits exceeding costs (i.e., net benefits) of the proposed repeal. EPA stated that it plans to update the power sector modeling and make it available for public comment before it finalizes the proposed repeal. This forthcoming analysis may show the extent to which updated power sector projections may change EPA's benefit-cost estimates.
Download or read book The Clean Power Plan written by Rachel Marlowe and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is an interesting debate when two societal principles so integral to our long-term survival seem to come to a head. The Clean Power Plan, a new proposed rule by the EPA to reduce carbon emissions, appears to have sparked just such a battle. A clash seemingly between goals of environmental protection and protection of existing individual jobs is sure to garner public attention. However, this debate is less about jobs versus the environment and more about a shift in jobs from more traditional energy sectors to newer, less established sectors. This article explores the goals of the Clean Power Plan and how proponents and opponents alike frame the issue, especially in Pennsylvania, which is at the center of the changing energy landscape in the United States. President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law on December 31, 1970. Many Federal environmental acts were signed into law in the 1970's as a result of growing citizen concern for the environment. The Clean Air Act authorized EPA to enact federal regulations and employ enforcement mechanisms that would control air emissions from both stationary and mobile sources. The Clean Air Act's main purpose has always been protecting the environment, although the cost of compliance and the impact of regulations on American industry were considered by Congress in conjunction with enactment of the Clean Air Act and its amendments. Additionally, any proposed rules, changes, or enforcement mechanisms are required to do the same. This article also addresses those impacts in the context of the recently proposed Clean Power Plan. The science community's knowledge about humans' impact on our climate has changed vastly since 1970 when we knew very little about the future of the world climate and were only beginning to realize that carbon dioxide emissions cause our planet to warm. In addition, coverage of this concept has also increased. These climate change stories have gone from being hidden in the back of technical journals to at the forefront of our mainstream media. In response to increasing concern about the current state of our environment and growing scientific consensus about global climate change, the EPA, on June 18, 2014, proposed a new rule establishing emissions guidelines for states to follow as they develop plans to address greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel electric generating units. This rule would mandate a thirty percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by the year 2030. This plan would develop state-specific goals for carbon dioxide emissions from power-related sources and continue progress already underway in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
Download or read book Struggling for Air written by Richard L. Revesz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the beginning of the Obama Administration, conservative politicians have railed against the President's "War on Coal." As evidence of this supposed siege, they point to a series of rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency that aim to slash air pollution from the nation's power sector . Because coal produces far more pollution than any other major energy source, these rules are expected to further reduce its already shrinking share of the electricity market in favor of cleaner options like natural gas and solar power. But the EPA's policies are hardly the "unprecedented regulatory assault " that opponents make them out to be. Instead, they are merely the latest chapter in a multi-decade struggle to overcome a tragic flaw in our nation's most important environmental law. In 1970, Congress passed the Clean Air Act, which had the remarkably ambitious goal of eliminating essentially all air pollution that posed a threat to public health or welfare. But there was a problem: for some of the most common pollutants, Congress empowered the EPA to set emission limits only for newly constructed industrial facilities, most notably power plants. Existing plants, by contrast, would be largely exempt from direct federal regulation-a regulatory practice known as "grandfathering." What lawmakers didn't anticipate was that imposing costly requirements on new plants while giving existing ones a pass would simply encourage those old plants to stay in business much longer than originally planned. Since 1970, the core problems of U.S. environmental policy have flowed inexorably from the smokestacks of these coal-fired clunkers, which continue to pollute at far higher rates than their younger peers. In Struggling for Air, Richard L. Revesz and Jack Lienke chronicle the political compromises that gave rise to grandfathering, its deadly consequences, and the repeated attempts-by presidential administrations of both parties-to make things right.
Download or read book EPA s Clean Power Plan written by Melinda E. Taylor and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On June 2, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a plan to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing fossil fuel power plants based on its authority under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7411(d)). The proposal, known as the Clean Power Plan or 111(d) rule, will require each state to develop a plan for reducing the rate of CO2 emissions from its electric power system. As currently proposed, the Clean Power Plan requires states to meet interim emissions reduction targets beginning in 2020, with final targets to be achieved by 2030. The Clean Power Plan envisages that electric power companies will reduce their emissions by, among other things, switching to lower carbon fuel sources and increasing investment in energy efficiency. Currently, coal supplies approximately 40 percent of the electricity delivered to the grid in the U.S. Reducing the carbon intensity of the electric power system will mean increased reliance on natural gas and alternative sources of power, such as nuclear, wind, and solar. To some extent, this transition is already underway, even in the absence of federal standards. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that, between 2004 and 2014, coal-fired electricity generation declined by nearly 20 percent. Over the same period, natural gas-fired generation increased by almost 58 percent and non-hydroelectric renewable generation by over 200 percent. The Clean Power Plan promises to accelerate this transition away from coal towards natural gas and renewables. Given this, the Clean Power Plan has been highly controversial. EPA received approximately two million public comments from states, industry leaders, environmental groups, and public citizens with a wide range of opinions on the best options to proceed with the Clean Power Plan. To help inform the on-going policy debate, from April to June 2015, the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business at The University of Texas at Austin conducted a survey on key aspects of the Clean Power Plan. 66 valid survey responses were received. The survey respondents included power company executives, industry consultants, state environmental officials, state energy officials, utility regulator staff, and regional transmission organization staff from various locations. Responses were not collected from every state. Survey respondents were not asked whether they support or oppose the Clean Power Plan. Rather, the survey focused on issues relating to implementation of the Plan. The survey results are summarized in this report. Key findings of the survey include: (1) The overwhelming majority of survey respondents favored the development of state compliance plans rather than federally-developed plans. (2) There was broad support, among survey respondents, for mass-based trading programs. Support was found in both Democratic- and Republican-controlled states but was higher in the former than the latter. (3) Survey respondents were divided on the use of renewable portfolio standards and energy efficiency measures. These policies were popular among energy and environmental officials, particularly in Democratic-run states. However, few power company executives supported use of the policies. (4) Most survey respondents favored market-based compliance options. 68 percent of respondents indicated that they preferred mass-based trading over other market-based options. 11 percent of respondents listed rate-based trading as their preferred option. (5) Almost two-thirds of survey respondents favored adoption of mass-based emissions targets, arguing that they are easier to implement than the rate-based targets proposed by EPA. Others, however, expressed concern about the difficulties of converting any rate-based target into a mass-based form. There was also some concern about a mass-based target's perceived limits on future electricity growth. (6) The bulk of survey respondents supported interstate cooperation on the Clean Power Plan, with 90 percent arguing that states should develop multi-state plans or single-state plans that preserve the option to trade across state lines.
Download or read book The Clean Air Act and the Clean Power Plan written by Claire Ferguson and published by Nova Snova. This book was released on 2019-01-29 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The principal statute addressing air quality concerns, the Clean Air Act was first enacted in 1955, with major revisions in 1970, 1977, and 1990 and is addressed in the first part of this book. Congressional actions on air quality issues have been dominated since 2011 by efforts particularly in the Houseto change the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs) authority to promulgate or implement new emission control requirements. EPAs regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants and from oil and gas industry sources have been of particular interest, as have the agencys efforts to revise ambient air quality standards for ozone. The 115th Congress and the Trump Administration are reviewing some of these regulations, with the possibility of their modification or repeal. On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its final Clean Power Plan rule (Rule) to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), specifically carbon dioxide (CO2), from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants. The aim of the Rule, according to EPA, is to help protect human health and the environment from the impacts of climate change. The Clean Power Plan would require states to submit plans to achieve state-specific CO2 goals reflecting emission performance rates or emission levels for predominantly coal- and gas-fired power plants, with a series of interim goals culminating in final goals by 2030.
Download or read book Strategic Policy Choice in State Level Regulation written by James Busby Bushnell and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flexibility in environmental regulations can lead to reduced costs if it allows additional abatement from lower cost sources or if policy tailoring and experimentation across states increases regulatory efficiency. The EPA's 2014 Clean Power Plan, which implements greenhouse gas regulation of power plants under the Clean Air Act, allows substantial regulatory flexibility. The Clean Power Plan sets state-level 2030 goals for emissions rates (in lbs CO2 per MWh) with substantial variation in the goals across states. The Clean Power Plan allows states considerable flexibility in attaining these goals. In particular, states can choose whether to implement the rate standards goals or equivalent mass-based goals (i.e., emissions cap and trade, CAT). Moreover, states can choose whether or not to join with other states in implementing their goals. We analyze incentives to adopt inefficient rate standards versus efficient CAT standards using both analytical and simulation models. We have five main results. First, we theoretically show that industry supply can be efficient under both CAT regulation and rate-based regulation. However, under rate-based standards the carbon price must equal the social cost of carbon and the rate standard must be equal across all the states. Second, we illustrate important differences in the incentives of a unified coalition of states and the incentives of a single state. Third, our simulation results show that when states fail to coordinate on a policy, the merit order can be "scrambled" quite dramatically leading to significant inefficiencies. Fourth, the Nash equilibrium of a game between coastal and inland western states is an inefficient policy for consumers and an uncoordinated policy for generators. Finally, we show that how new plants are treated under the Clean Power Plan has large effects on the scale and location of entry.
Download or read book EPA s Clean Power Plan Proposal written by Jonathan L. Ramseur and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On June 18, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed regulations (the "Clean Power Plan") addressing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. This report briefly discusses this proposal.
Download or read book Impact of Epa s Clean Power Plan on States written by United States Congress and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Impact of EPA's Clean Power Plan on states : hearing before the Committee on Environment, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, second session, May 26, 2016.
Download or read book Remaking American Power written by John Larsen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2014-11-17 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study seeks to help inform federal and state policymakers, energy producers, investors, and consumers about the potential energy market impacts of state and federal policy decisions associated with the Clean Power Plan as proposed. The report outlines the potential electric power sector and broader energy market impacts of policy design options and implementation choices by modeling the Clean Power Plan. In addition to mapping out the impacts on the electric power sector and consumers, the report also assesses the impact of the Clean Power Plan on potential changes in natural gas and coal production at the national and regional level.
Download or read book Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources Electric Utility Generating Units Us Environmental Protection Agency Regulation Epa 2018 Edition written by The Law The Law Library and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-19 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources - Electric Utility Generating Units (US Environmental Protection Agency Regulation) (EPA) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources - Electric Utility Generating Units (US Environmental Protection Agency Regulation) (EPA) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 In this action, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is establishing final emission guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs). Specifically, the EPA is establishing: Carbon dioxide (CO 2) emission performance rates representing the best system of emission reduction (BSER) for two subcategories of existing fossil fuel-fired EGUs-fossil fuel-fired electric utility steam generating units and stationary combustion turbines; state-specific CO 2 goals reflecting the CO 2 emission performance rates; and guidelines for the development, submittal and implementation of state plans that establish emission standards or other measures to implement the CO 2 emission performance rates, which may be accomplished by meeting the state goals. This final rule will continue progress already underway in the U.S. to reduce CO 2 emissions from the utility power sector. This book contains: - The complete text of the Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources - Electric Utility Generating Units (US Environmental Protection Agency Regulation) (EPA) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section
Download or read book State Regulator s Perspectives on the Clean Power Plant written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Environment and Public Works and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book EPA s Clean Power Play written by Brian H. Potts and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The much anticipated centerpiece of President Obama's climate plan is finally here. The proposed rule -- which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calls its “Clean Power Plan” -- would slash greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants in this country by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. In this article, we provide a short overview of the proposal, attempt to show which states will be the most impacted, and analyze the three biggest legal questions facing the rule, with the aim of answering the question everyone is asking: Will EPA's Clean Power Plan make it through the courts? We conclude that EPA's legal justifications for its Clean Power Plan are tenuous, and as written, the courts are likely to overturn it -- at least in part.
Download or read book A Switching Costs Approach written by Michael Barsa and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 31 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the proposed Clean Power Rule, EPA was required to allocate the burden of reducing carbon emissions from electricity production among the States. EPA chose a novel approach that is quite different from that adopted in Kyoto or the EU -- what we call a “Switching Costs” approach. Under this approach, each State is allocated reduction percentages in emissions rates or mass emissions that depend heavily on the State's switching opportunities -- its opportunities to switch from coal to natural gas and from fossil-fuel energy sources to renewable energy. One result of the Switching Costs approach is that increases in electricity rates in the State should be more similar, closer to equal, than they would be under an approach that required emissions reductions without regard to variations in the switching opportunities available to each State. In Part I, this paper reviews the allocation plans that have been tried so far on an international scale and why they have not succeeded. In Part II, the paper explains EPA's Clean Power Rule and what we are calling the switching opportunities approach that is at least roughly suggested by the Rule. In Part III, the paper discusses the two different “cost-sensitive” approaches adopted by the EPA under the Clean Air Act so far, and in Part IV, the paper discusses the basis for using the Clean Power Plan as a model and the advantages and disadvantages of “scaling up” the switching opportunities approach to the international arena. Overall, we find considerable merit in the switching opportunities approach, especially when its possible perverse incentive effects are tempered in the institutional design of the relevant regulations.
Download or read book The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1993-07 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A primer for small business on the requirements of the Clean Air Act Amendments, which contain new provisions. Explains as simply as possible the complex requirements of the Amendments; describes the law's provisions for businesses in cities with smog problems and the kinds of small businesses that may be affected by these provisions; and provides hotline numbers and the addresses and phone numbers of state agencies that can provide additional information.
Download or read book EPAs Proposed Carbon Dioxide Rule for Existing Power Plants written by Carmella Ramos and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed regulations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing power plants. EPA believes that its proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) will "protect public health, move the United States towards a cleaner environment, and fight climate change while supplying Americans with reliable and affordable power." Burning fossil fuels to produce electricity results in the release of carbon dioxide, and represents the largest source of GHG emissions in the United States. This book discusses the implications for the electric power sector. It also examines the carbon dioxide emission rate goals in EPA's proposed rule for existing power plants; and discusses the Congressional responses and options to the EPA regulation of greenhouse gases.
Download or read book EPA s Proposed Carbon Dioxide Rule for Existing Power Plants written by Carmella Ramos and published by Gazelle Book Services, Limited. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed regulations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing power plants. EPA believes that its proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) will "protect public health, move the United States towards a cle
