The document discusses environmental regulations facing the US utility industry. It summarizes seven major regulations affecting air, water, and waste that were outlined in a "Train Wreck" diagram from 2008-2014. Recent court rulings have provided more clarity and reduced uncertainties. As of 2014, final rules have been issued for mercury emissions, air pollution transport, and cooling water intake. The remaining regulations on ozone standards, greenhouse gases, wastewater discharge, and coal ash are expected to be finalized by late 2015. Compliance will require costly investments but the industry is adapting strategies as regulations become clearer.
The document discusses environmental regulations facing the US utility industry. It summarizes seven major regulations affecting air, water, and waste that were outlined in a "Train Wreck" diagram from 2008-2014. Recent court rulings have provided more clarity and reduced uncertainties. As of 2014, final rules have been issued for mercury emissions, air pollution transport, and cooling water intake. The remaining regulations on ozone standards, greenhouse gases, wastewater discharge, and coal ash are expected to be finalized by late 2015. Compliance will require costly investments but the industry is adapting strategies as regulations become clearer.
The document discusses environmental regulations facing the US utility industry. It summarizes seven major regulations affecting air, water, and waste that were outlined in a "Train Wreck" diagram from 2008-2014. Recent court rulings have provided more clarity and reduced uncertainties. As of 2014, final rules have been issued for mercury emissions, air pollution transport, and cooling water intake. The remaining regulations on ozone standards, greenhouse gases, wastewater discharge, and coal ash are expected to be finalized by late 2015. Compliance will require costly investments but the industry is adapting strategies as regulations become clearer.
at the End of the Regulatory Tunnel BY MITCHELL KRASNOPOLER, MANAGER OF AIR QUALITY, KIEWIT POWER ENGINEERS
n 2011, the timeline chart of expected environmental regulations for
the U.S. utility industry was extensive and complex. The complexity of the timeline caused many in the industry to refer to the time line as the Train Wreck diagram. That diagram showed the upcoming air, water, and waste regulations from 2008 until about 2014. So where are we on the diagram now that 2014 is here? Some recent rulings have reduced the unknowns and a path to compliance can be strategized. The diagram included seven major regulations: 1. Transport Rule / Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) / Cross State Air Pollution Rules (CSAPR) 2. Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) / Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) 3. National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone, SO2, PM2.5 4. Greenhouse Gas Regulations / Carbon Pollution Standards / Clean Power Plan 5. Cooling Water Intake Regulation (316b) 6. Electric Generation Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELG) 7. Coal Combustion Residuals / Residues (CCR) In October 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit lifted the stay on CSAPR from December 30, 2011. In addition, last month the EPA sent the final CCR rule to the White House for Office of Management and Budget review. These two recent actions and others address most of the seven 8
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regulations listed above.
Several of the identified regulations were challenged in court, vacated, remanded, reinstituted, revised, reissued, or have a court-imposed deadline for the proposed or final rule. As of November 2014, the following final rules have been issued: MATS (Feb. 16, 2012), CSAPR (final issued Aug. 8, 2011; final revisions issued Feb. 21, 2012; upheld by Supreme Court on April 29, 2014; stay lifted Oct. 23, 2014), and 316b (Aug. 15, 2014), These rules have court-imposed deadlines or other target dates: Ozone NAAQS (proposal expected by Dec. 1, 2014; final expected by Oct. 1, 2015), Clean Power Plan (proposed on June 2, 2014; final expected by June 2015), ELG (proposed on June 7, 2013; final expected by Sept. 30, 2015), CCR (proposed final rule sent by EPA and received by White House on Oct. 27, 2014, final is expected to be issued by Dec. 19, 2014). Although the CSAPR stay was lifted, the lawsuit to resolve specific provisions of the rule, such as revising the original CSAPR deadlines, will continue. EPA had requested a three-year compliance delay, but the stay ignored this. Despite the uncertainty, there are few additional reductions expected for CSAPR compliance because the requirements for MATS are well underway. The January 2014 CCR consent decree requires the EPA to publish the final CCR rule by December 19, 2014. The final rule has been received by the White House and is under review by the OMB. The abstract on OMBs Regulatory-Review website lists the two options from the June 21, 2010 proposed rule: 1) regulate
CCRs as special wastes under subtitle C
of RCRA; 2) regulate CCRs as non-hazardous waste under subtitle D of RCRA. Many believe that that the EPA final rule now under review will classify CCRs as special wastes, a much more stringent standard. Industry had expected the subtitle D option to be put forward. The pursuit of special waste characterization may reflect a growing confidence within the EPA that rigorous and demanding rules will be upheld. Under the special waste option, existing surface impoundments will be phased out. This will require plants with wet fly ash, wet bottom ash, or wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) waste (e.g., gypsum) to convert their plant systems to produce a dry byproduct that could be landfilled. Of the seven major regulations noted above, all are expected to be final by Oct. 1, 2015. CSAPR, MATS, 316b, and CCR should have final rules and the others will have a proposed rule by the end of 2014. Many of these rules have demanding compliance provisions that will require costly capital expenditures. Despite these complex and challenging regulations, there is at least growing clarity for the utility industry regarding the rules under which it will be expected to operate. Compliance strategies will no doubt continue to evolve. As has clearly been demonstrated over the last several years, the low cost of natural gas significantly influences these compliance decisions. There seems to be light at the end of the regulatory tunnel and the industrys ingenuity, flexibility and forward planning may help avoid a real train wreck. www.power-eng.com