Clean Air Act Issues in the 115th Congress: In Brief Page: 9 of 17
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Clean Air Act Issues in the 115th Congress: In Brief
by a greater percentage than other states.'4 The first step in implementation was to be the
submission of implementation plans by the states in September 2016.
A separate rule for new power plants, the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS), would
affect fewer plants, but it too is controversial, because of the technology it assumed could be used
to reduce emissions at new coal-fired units. The NSPS would rely in part on carbon capture and
sequestration (CCS) technology to reduce emissions by about 20% compared to the emissions of
a state of the art coal-fired plant without CCS. Critics complained that CCS is a costly and
unproven technology, and because of this, the NSPS would effectively prohibit the construction
of new coal-fired plants. They noted that no operating commercial U.S. power plant was
capturing and storing CO2 as of the date the rule was promulgated. (The first commercial CCS
facility in the United States, the Petra Nova project at the WA Parish Generating Station in Texas,
came on line in 2016.)
EPA has contended that the components of CCS (separation of CO2 from emissions, pipelines to
transport the CO2 to storage sites, and equipment to pump the CO2 underground) have been
successfully operated for decades, even if no power plant had combined all of them in an
operating unit. At the same time, EPA maintained that the NSPS rule "will result in negligible ...
costs," because, given the low cost and abundance of natural gas, new fossil-fueled capacity will
rely on natural gas (NGCC) technology for the immediate future." NGCC units, which emit only
half the CO2 of uncontrolled coal-fired plants, can attain the NSPS without needing to capture any
of their carbon emissions.
Following publication of the NSPS and the Clean Power Plan in the October 23, 2015, Federal
Register, the 114th Congress considered and passed joint resolutions of disapproval of both rules
in December 2015 (S.J.Res. 23 and S.J.Res. 24) under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The
CRA resolutions would have revoked the rules and prevented EPA from issuing substantially
similar rules unless authorized by a subsequently enacted law. President Obama vetoed both of
the joint resolutions.
The CRA resolutions were the latest in a long line of attempts by Members, primarily in the
House, to limit EPA's authority to implement GHG emission requirements for power plants
(referred to as electric generating units, or EGUs, in EPA parlance). For example, in June 2015,
the House passed H.R. 2042, which would have delayed the compliance date of GHG emission
standards for existing EGUs (including the date by which states must submit implementation
plans) until after the completion of judicial review of any aspect of the rule, and would have
allowed a state to opt out of compliance if the governor determined that the rule would have
significant adverse effects on rate-payers or on the reliability of the state's electricity system.
'4 For a more detailed description of the CPP requirements, see CRS Report R44145, EPA 's Clean Power Plan:
Highlights of the Final Rule, and CRS Report R44341, EPA's Clean Power Plan for Existing Power Plants: Frequently
Asked Questions.
's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Regulatory Impact Analysis for the Final Standards of Performance for
Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating
Units, August 2015, pp. ES-4 and ES-5, at https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/P1OOMWLE.txt?ZyActionD=
ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=2011 %20Thru%202015&Docs=&Query=&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=
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ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1.Congressional Research Service
5
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McCarthy, James E. Clean Air Act Issues in the 115th Congress: In Brief, report, August 16, 2017; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1042562/m1/9/?q=%22environmental+protection%22: accessed June 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.