EPA Sets Gas Plants As GHG Rule Benchmark, Raising Doubts About Coal

摘要

Epa's proposed first-time utility greenhouse gas (GHG) rule for new plants undergoing White House review sets a heat-rate limit — a measure of fuel efficiency — to reflect the best-performing combined-cycle natural gas plant, a level so strict it signals an end to new coal plants as only gas facilities will be able to meet the limit, sources say. However, the sources question whether the proposal will retain that stringent limit when, or if, it completes White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) pre-publication review, given that many of the states that would be hardest hit by such a limit are critical swing states in the 2012 presidential election. The agency plans to release the rule early next year, after missing previous settlement deadlines for issuing a proposal.