The Environmental Protection Administration is in the process of replacing the so-called Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was originally released in August 2015 by the EPA under President Obama. The EPA’s replacement rule is currently being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget. When the CPP is replaced, members of the Lignite Energy Council will breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Representatives of the Lignite Energy Council provided oral comments at an EPA field hearing in Gillette, Wyoming, last spring. After that, we provided more in-depth written comments. It is our sincere hope that our comments were taken to heart in the replacement document.
The original CPP would have harmed all forms of electric generation, and it would have disproportionately impacted lignite-fired generation with no statistically significant improvement to the environment or quality of life. At the time, it was estimated that half of the industry would be shuttered to meet North Dakota’s goal of a 45 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030.
While the CPP was developed and released by the EPA, the older and broader Clean Air Act (CAA) was passed by Congress and signed into law. Since 1972, the CAA has also been amended by Congressional action. The Lignite Energy Council believes that CPP was deeply flawed because it strayed too far from the basic tenets of the Clean Air Act. For instance, the CAA works to solve discrete environmental and health-related challenges in pursuit of worthy goals of making the air and water cleaner while making the population healthier.
The Clean Power Plan failed to properly identify an emerging health-related problem linked to carbon dioxide. Although the Endangerment Finding regarding CO2 remains in force, the CPP painted with very broad strokes why CO2 should be reduced, never honing in with any specificity on the exact problems that CO2 purportedly caused. Built upon such a shaky foundation, crafting solutions would have been impossible.
For instance, the CPP took a hazy approach to how it would improve the health of America’s people. With no proven, measurable health problems attributable to CO2 regarding climate change, the original rule could demonstrate no measurable improvement of general population health exclusive to a reduction in CO2.
There were multiple additional problems that the LEC believed demonstrated the need to repeal the Clean Power Plan. A short listing includes the following:
- There was no analysis conducted on economic impacts related to small businesses, as required.
- There was no adequate economic analysis of impact on mine-mouth facilities.
- The proposed Best System of Emissions Reduction was flawed and overly broad, not taking into account individual characteristics and remaining useful life.
- The principles of cooperative federalism were ignored and early actions were penalized.
As we await the replacement of the Clean Power Plan, the lignite industry has not been idle. We’ve been working on several potential solutions to reduce CO2 for some time. One of the most obvious is improving the efficiency of the existing fleet, thus increasing the megawatt output from the same amount of fuel. The DryFiningTM technology employed at the Coal Creek Station is one of many good examples of a commercially available solution.
In addition, industry partners are working with researchers, the state of North Dakota and the U.S. Department of Energy on other solutions including Project Tundra, using a technology for existing plants, and the Allam Cycle, a potential solution for a new lignite-based plant. Research takes time and dollars. If the United States truly wants to be a leader in reducing CO2, federal funding for coal-based electricity research projects is a great way to proceed.
Jason Bohrer
President & CEO
Lignite Energy Council