Public power utilities will need at least 77 months to comply with the EPA’s proposed Electric Generating Unit Maximum Achievable Control Technology (EGU MACT), the American Public Power Association said on Wednesday in comments it filed with the Environmental Protection Agency.
The executive summary of the filed comments can be downloaded on the right-hand side of this article.
Representing over 2,000 utilities nationwide, the Washington-based association said the EGU MACT ruling–which gives utilities only three years for compliance–could have a cascade of negative impacts on the energy sector.
“The implications of this regulation will stretch from industrial customers all the way down to residential customers and both sectors will most definitely see a rise in electricity rates as a result,” President & CEO of APPA, Mark Crisson, said in statement.
The EPA will be accepting feedback on its ruling until August 4 at which point it will review the standards.
A recent analysis from ICF International claims that fewer coal plants than expected will be forced to shut by the proposed EGU MACT. ICFI analysts said the latest versions of EPA’s draft rules for coal air pollutants and generating plant water intakes offer more flexibility than previously anticipated.
Read the full story: Emissions Rules Could Boost Technology Additions.
The APPA also opposes the inclusion of acid gas and particulate matter in its emissions reductions standards, claiming that compliance with these rules would be an undue burden on the sector and could hurt electric reliability when plants schedule outages to install baghouses, scrubbers and other pollution controls in their smokestacks. The rule would also limit emissions of mercury and nickel.
“APPA would prefer EPA not expand the proposed rule beyond mercury and nickel since EPA has provided no data as to any health risk associated with non-mercury metal hazardous air pollutants and acid gases related to fossil-fuel-fired electric generating units,” the association said in a statement.
