by Steven Mufson and Juliet
Eilperin, Staff Writers
Washington Post
18 February 2009
The
Environmental Protection Agency will reopen the possibility of
regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants,
tossing aside a December Bush administration memorandum that
declared that the agency would not limit the emissions.
The
decision could mark the first step toward placing limits on
greenhouse gases emitted by coal plants, an issue that has been
hotly contested by the coal industry and environmentalists since
April 2007, when the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide
should be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
The
industry has vigorously opposed efforts to regulate those
emissions, asserting that the policy should be set by Congress.
Moreover, technology for capturing carbon dioxide emissions is
expensive and virtually untested.
Environmental
groups, however, say that building new coal plants with
conventional technology locks in additional greenhouse gas
emissions for the entire 30-to-40-year lifetimes of the power
plants, making it difficult to slow climate change. They have been
urging the Obama administration and state governments to use the
Supreme Court ruling to block air pollution permits for new
coal-fired power plants and to rely on renewable energy and
energy-efficiency measures to meet power needs.
In
response to a Sierra Club petition involving a permit for a coal
plant in Bonanza, Utah, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said
yesterday that the agency would take a new look at the issue and
solicit public comment. Jackson added that the memorandum issued
by her predecessor, Stephen A. Johnson, two months ago should not
restrict states weighing air pollution permits for new coal
plants.
"It
couldn't be a bigger turnaround from what the Bush administration
tried to force on them at the last minute," said Josh Dorner,
a spokesman for the Sierra Club, noting that the EPA's
Environmental Appeals Board had ruled in November that utilities
needed to take carbon dioxide emissions into account when applying
for permits. "It . .. . throws all these projects up in the
air. A coal plant was already a bad bet for ratepayers and
investors, and now it's a huge gamble."
In a
carefully worded letter, Jackson said any authority considering
whether to grant an air pollution permit to a coal-fired utility
"should not assume the [Johnson] memorandum is the final word
on the appropriate interpretation of the Clean Air Act." But
she did not issue a stay on the Bush administration memorandum.
Coal
industry advocates found some hope in that distinction, saying
Jackson's move may not signal a push for new regulation.
Washington lawyer Jeffrey R. Holmstead, a former EPA official in
the Bush administration, said, "It's kind of a clever
procedural move that allows the Obama folks to say that they are
distancing themselves from the Johnson memo without changing
anything. It says they need to go through a rulemaking process to
figure out how they are going to regulate carbon."
John
Stowell, vice president for environmental policy for Duke Energy,
one of the nation's largest utilities, said he "wasn't
surprised" by the announcement. Industry officials expect the
federal government to impose a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, he
said, and are hoping that Congress will adopt an economy-wide plan
rather than relying on the executive branch to target specific
sectors.
"It
serves as a reminder that it's coming, but we still expect it to
be done through the legislature and not the regulatory
process," he said, noting that Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.),
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) and others have signaled that the
committees they chair will pass climate legislation by the end of
the year. "They're all saying it's urgent. The president's
saying it's urgent -- 'We're going to get it done this Congress.'
And I believe them."
Jackson's
letter could prompt some state authorities to reassess how they
grant air pollution permits to new plants. LS Power plans to build
the 1,590-megawatt White Pine Energy Station in Nevada, and state
officials recently issued a document warning that if Johnson's
memo were withdrawn or revised before the permit had been issued,
they would "suspend further action on the permit application
until that application is made consistent with EPA's revised
position."
Vicki
Patton, deputy general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund,
an advocacy group, said the new administration had sent a broad
message to utilities: "They're signaling clearly that the
government is fundamentally rethinking the policy of an
appropriate approach to regulating global warming from new coal
plants."
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