Proposed Carbon Regulations For New Sources Continue To Meet Resistance

Pursuant to new source performance standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") on January 8, any new fossil fuel-fired power plants commencing construction after that date will be required to meet new carbon emissions standards. The agency proposed one set of standards for gas-fired units and second pair of alternative standards for coal-fired units. Most new combined cycle gas-fired units already meet the proposed standard. By contrast, neither recently built nor recently proposed coal-fired units can meet the EPA's proposed standard without using carbon capture and sequestration ("CCS"), a technology that some electric utilities are likely to assert has not yet been deployed cost-effectively on a commercial basis.