Plan targets power plant carbon dioxide emissions
Pa. measure mostly spares waste coal sites
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania power plants fueled by piles of discarded coal would largely be spared by a plan to cut the state’s carbon dioxide emissions, according to an early draft released by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Gov. Tom Wolf directed regulators last fall to lay the groundwork for Pennsylvania to participate in a regional program that caps carbon emissions from the power sector in 10 northeast and mid-Atlantic states. It is a signature effort in his plans to address climate change.
The program would require coal, gas and oil-fired power plants to pay a fee for their carbon emissions while a gradually declining cap would limit how much carbon the power sector can release each year.
The revenue would then be spent on initiatives to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.
Operators of coal-fired power plants fear the program will hasten the retirement of Pennsylvania’s remaining coal plants, whose ranks have already shrunk as new natural gas plants priced them out of the market.
But the waste coal generating industry, which cleans up piles of coal left behind by legacy mining and uses it as a fuel in power plants, is “a sector unique and valuable to Pennsylvania” and merits a special carve out, said Hayley Book, a senior adviser on energy and climate at DEP, during an air quality advisory board meeting Thursday.
DEP expects its carbon budget and trading rules will apply to 49 fossil fuel power plants, 10 waste coal plants and one industrial plant, although that count could shift.
Instead of exempting waste coal generation from regulation, DEP plans to set aside allowances for 7.9 million tons of carbon emissions, which represents the peak annual emissions from the industry over the last three years.
If waste coal plants emit more than that amount, they would have to buy allowances to cover the difference.
Pennsylvania’s preliminary rules vary in other ways from the template provided by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
They carve out an exemption for some electric generators whose byproduct heat is harnessed for use by interconnected manufacturers — an efficient setup known as cogeneration or combined heat and power.
They include abandoned well plugging on the list of beneficial projects that companies can undertake to offset a small
percentage of their emissions, along with projects to improve forests and capture gas from landfills and farms.
And they give Pennsylvania the ability to create a standalone auction — rather than join the existing collaborative auction run by the initiative’s member states — although Ms. Book said DEP does not anticipate going out on its own.
Still missing from the draft is the amount of emissions that Pennsylvania’s carbon budget will start with and how much it will decline each year.
DEP expects to have a full draft that includes that information as well as an analysis of the program’s impact on Pennsylvania’s economy and power sector by April 16. The first official proposal will be brought to the state’s environmental rule-making board July 21.
On Thursday, environmental groups and Exelon Corp. urged DEP to adopt a carbon budget that is strict enough to drive down emissions and incentivize the development of cleaner forms of power.
Kathleen Robertson of Exelon said meeting Mr. Wolf’s timeline for joining the greenhouse gas initiative by the start of 2022 “is critical to preserving the commonwealth’s remaining nuclear plants.” Exelon’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant shut down in September, but the company has two other operating nuclear plants in Pennsylvania.
Fossil fuel generators, on the other hand, pushed DEP to craft a rule that will not force them to retire plants prematurely — especially if that results in simply shifting emissions to states like West Virginia and Ohio that don’t participate in the greenhouse gas initiative.
Those generators have the attention of the Republican leaders of the Legislature’s environment committees.
Senate committee Chairman Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, said last week that he plans to host a series of hearings throughout the state beginning in March “to force the Wolf administration to answer the hard questions about the immediate and irreparable harm” that he said would be caused by joining the initiative.
House committee Chairman Daryl Metcalfe, RCranberry, wrote to the nonprofit that administers the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative last month to say that Mr. Wolf is a “rogue governor” who does not have the authority to join the initiative without the Legislature’s approval.