Federal Regulations Advisor
Leland Beck
Carbon Capture & Sequestration: EPA released an advance version of its carbon capture and sequestration final rule: Hazardous Waste Management System: Conditional Exclusion for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Streams in Geologic Sequestration Activities. The economics behind the rule contain a high degree of uncertainty, but the rule is raises significant legal and policy issues. The EPA proposed Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units last September to limit greenhouse gas emissions by requiring all new coal plants to use a carbon capture and sequestration technology – industry has suggested that such technology is not yet available. This final rule conditionally excepts carbon capture and injection into underground facilities from Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulation.
► EPA admits that it appears unlikely that there would be any significant expansion in carbon capture and sequestration over the next several years and it is unclear how their downward revision of utilization expectations affects the costs of the electric generator greenhouse gas rule (comment period closed). EPA may be hedging against the costs of a final Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units rule