California, New York, and Minnesota, along with 11 utilities and environmental NGOs, want the US EPA to allow them to meet new federal climate change rules by crafting their own programs, such as the cap-and-trade plans that have been adopted by California and Northeastern states.
Rather than following a single set of rules determined by the EPA, those states and utilities would rather experiment with ways to reduce GHG emissions that work best in their region, as long as they meet EPA caps.
The EPA will begin regulating GHG this year under its New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) under the Clean Air Act. It will place a cap on the amount of carbon dioxide and other GHG gases that utilities can release into the atmosphere.
Many coal-dependent electricity producers, for example, prefer to use a cap-and-trade system because they see it as the cheapest way to reduce emissions.
10 Northeastern states already operate the successful Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which has a goal of cutting emissions 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, and California’s new cap-and-trade plan starts in 2012.
Some states, however, might prefer to work through Renewable Energy Standards, which require utilities to source a certain percentage of energy from renewable sources.
Minnesota is among 30 states that have adopted Renewable Energy Standards.
The 11 utilities include some of the largest in the country: Constellation Energy, Exelon Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Corp.
When EPA releases its proposal this summer, it’s expected to limit the amount of CO2 that can be emitted for every megawatt-hour of electricity produced. Rather than applying those limits to individual power plants, they could be averaged across a state.
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