More comment time sought for GHG regs

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has asked the Environmental Protection Agency for a 60-day extension to the 120-day public comment period for the agency’s proposed regulations setting greenhouse gas emission limits for power stations in the United States.

At the beginning of June EPA issued its proposed new rule, setting each state a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted per unit of power generated. States must develop plans for achieving their emissions limits by 2030 through some combination of power generation efficiency, changes in generation technologies and improved efficiency of power use. There are required dates for plan submission. And, if a state does not end up with an EPA-approved plan, EPA will prepare and mandate a plan for the state.

Because of the complexity and broad scope of the proposed rule, and because the rule would impact electricity generation, use and costs throughout the country, people need more time for review and for offering comments, the senators said.

The senators said that many parties, including power and transmission organizations, utilities and state regulators, have expressed concern that the rule is more complex to assess than anticipated, and that some issues raised by the rule require discussions between a variety of state, regional and national officials.

In Alaska the rule would require a drop in carbon dioxide emissions to about 26 percent below 2012 levels, a requirement that presumably raises issues over the future mix of generation technologies in the state and the ability of the state’s aging transmission grid to support the generation changes.

- Alan Bailey