TAUC Submits Comments to EPA on Revised Carbon Standard

November 22 2013

TAUC has submitted comments to EPA regarding its revised proposed rule that sets carbon emission limits for new power plants. The revised proposed rule is very similar to the original proposal the EPA released last summer (you can read the original comments TAUC submitted on that proposal by clicking here).

Originally, EPA proposed an emissions limit for new coal-fired plants of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour. The revised proposal increases that limit slightly to 1,100 pounds per megawatt hour under certain circumstances. This is still well below the average of 1,800-1,900 pounds per megawatt hour that the most efficient coal plants emit. The agency argues that new coal plants could meet the new limit by installing carbon capture and storage systems, but critics say CCS is an extremely expensive and commercially unproven technology.

Read TAUC’s latest comments to EPA on the revised proposal.

On a related note, TAUC also recently submitted informal comments to EPA regarding its upcoming plans to issue carbon emission limits for existing power plants (as opposed to new plants). The agency is expected to release a preliminary proposal in the summer of 2014. Read our comments to EPA here.