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EPA seeks input on emissions plan Agency proposes developing a federal plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in parallel with state plans Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to develop regulations for the development of a federal plan for reducing carbon emissions from U.S. power plants. In a Jan. 27 press release the agency said that it is inviting small businesses and other entities to participate as “small entity representatives” in a review panel for the plan development. The panel, called the Small Business Advocacy Review Panel, will also include federal representatives from the Small Business Administration, the Office of Management and Budget and EPA. The development of the federal plan comes in association with the Clean Power Plan, the agency’s rule, proposed in June, for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.
Under the Clean Power Plan, EPA will set each state a target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from major power plants within the state’s territory, with each state having the ability to develop its own plan for meeting the EPA target. If a state fails to develop an EPA-approved plan by a specified date, the EPA will impose a plan on the state. The overall objective is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants by 30 percent of 2005 levels by 2030.
Response to requests EPA has told Petroleum News that it is beginning work on proposing a federal plan in response to requests from a number of states and stakeholders for additional information about what EPA’s model rule or federal plan would look like for the Clean Power Plan.
“We plan to propose the federal plan in mid-summer 2015, and that proposal will go through a routine, open and transparent public review and comment process before any plan is made final,” EPA said in a Feb. 4 email. “This proposed federal plan will be developed as a notice and comment rulemaking and is subject to the processes and procedures of EPA’s regulatory development process. … As we always are, we are interested in hearing ideas from all stakeholders during this pre-proposal phase.”
The EPA press release says that the agency believes that many states will find information in the federal plan useful in developing their individual state plans for emission reductions. And the review panel will provide important feedback to EPA during the development of the federal plan, EPA says. Representatives on the panel will be able to provide advice and recommendations on behalf of their companies, communities or organizations, informing the panel about the potential impacts of the proposed emissions rule on small entities, the agency says.
Prospective panel members can self-nominate through the EPA website.
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