On May 4, 2023, Senator Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the Spur
Permitting of Underdeveloped Resources Act (SPUR Act, S. 1456, 118th Congress). Among other things,
the SPUR Act would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) to adopt tariff provisions, rate treatments, and other
reforms needed to protect the adequacy, affordability, reliability,
and security of the supply and delivery of electricity and other
attributes of electric supply. Power plant operators'
investment and retirement decisions are crucial to ensuring such
goals.
Just days later, on May 11, 2023, in Docket No.
EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0072, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed Clean Air Act emission limits and
guidelines for carbon dioxide from fossil fuel-fired power plants
that would drive major new investment and retirement decisions. As
discussed in our Advisory, those emissions limits, if
finalized, would apply to new gas-fired combustion turbines,
existing coal, oil, and
