Appeals Board Rules Agency Can Regulate Power Plant Carbon Dioxide 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled yesterday the regulatory agency has discretion to regulate carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.

The EAB also ordered EPA’s Region 8 office in Denver to reconsider its decision against requiring carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution controls on a planned plant expansion in Bonanza, Utah.  

The board said regulators reviewing the Deseret Power Electric Cooperative project "wrongly believed that [the agency's] discretion was limited by an historical agency interpretation" regarding regulation of CO2. That interpretation held that emitters of CO2 needed only to monitor and report emissions under the Clean Air Act, rather than to "control" the greenhouse gas.

Environmental groups were quick to cite the EAB's decision as a breakthrough in ongoing efforts to bring CO2 under the control of the Clean Air Act.

The Deseret permit was challenged by the Sierra Club, along with a coalition of other Utah-based organizations. The appeals board said it recognized that "the issue of whether CO2 is 'subject to regulation under [the] Act' is an issue of national scope and that all parties would be better served by addressing it in the context of an action of nationwide scope rather than in the context of a specific permit proceeding."

Contact Deidra Ciriello.

Renewable Energy Industry Seeks Help from Congress

Just weeks after claiming victory in a drawn-out battle for federal tax breaks, the renewable energy industry is asking Congress to change its subsidies in response to deteriorating market conditions.

The wind, solar, and geothermal industries have been hit hard by bank failures and the falling profitability of other institutions that have been partners in the complicated tax-credit system that underwrites renewable-energy projects.

The production tax credit requires developers of unprofitable projects to team with large, money-making businesses that can trade cash for credits to reduce their own tax liabilities.

In the past six months, linchpins of the tax-equity market have fallen, leaving renewable developers unable to claim the incentives. Now, renewable-energy trade groups have begun lobbying to convert the production tax credit into a refundable credit that would eliminate the need for deep-pocketed partners.

Converting those to a refundable credit would allow project developers to get checks directly from the U.S. Treasury for the value of the incentive, rather than having to find partners.


Contact Deidra Ciriello.

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