The EPA Isn't Backing Off Its Faith in Carbon-Capture Technology
May 5, 2016 - There may be no plant using it in the U.S. and the SaskPower project in Canada had to shutter for months to work out some bugs, but the agency maintains there’s absolutely no reason for it to reconsider its requirement that new coal plants capture some of their carbon emissions.
The agency turned down an appeal by utilities to scrap the CCS requirement in its 111(b) rule, arguing the Canadian plant is doing just fine: “The system was shut down for two weeks in June 2015 for maintenance, and for nearly two months (most of September and all of October) in the fall of the same year for further maintenance,”
EPA said in its decision, released yesterday. “The system has operated with high reliability since.”
Well, OK then. Whether EPA is correct in its faith in CCS is going to be the nub of the legal arguments over this regulation.