Recent And Upcoming EPA Regulatory Developments Will Affect Power Plants And Other Industries

The current debate in Congress over the Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") authority to regulate greenhouse gases ("GHGs") under the federal Clean Air Act has drawn attention away from a series of recent and anticipated regulatory developments that will have significant impacts on the U.S. power sector and other major emissive industries, and in particular the use of coal-fired power. In short, EPA has proposed or will soon propose several regulations affecting the operation of power plants and other facilities burning fossil-fuels that will cumulatively require the installation of costly state-of-the-art controls, practices and monitoring, and may drive the re-powering or retirement of some plants not willing or able to make the necessary investments. This update briefly describes what has been recently proposed and what is expected regarding the regulation of conventional pollutants from power plants and other major sources. It will also discuss some of the