EPA Adds Reliability Provisions to Carbon Rule Amid Utility Concerns Over Power Plant Emission Standards

EPA has added several new reliability provisions to its power plant carbon rule, which appears to have been influenced by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), a major utility trade group that has been critical of the pollution standards. The rule allows the nation’s coal fleet and major new natural gas plants to choose between capturing most of their carbon emissions by 2032 or retiring soon after, leading to concerns about electricity reliability. The final rule includes two new provisions to add reliability protection, one that temporarily exempts fossil fuel power plants from the standards during grid emergencies and another that allows a facility an extra year to retrofit with carbon capture or remain in operation if grid operators cannot provide replacement power generation. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has urged EPA to withdraw the Proposed Rules in their entirety, while EEI proposed that EPA use Clean Air Act authorities to temporarily exempt fossil fuel facilities from the rules to allow them to produce more power in an emergency, like during a natural disaster, when supply is lost or demand spikes unexpectedly, or if grid regulators decide a plant needs to stay in operation longer to allow replacement generation to come online.