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Issue: 1267 Date: 12/4/2014
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Time's Up! Comment Period Closes On EPA's Proposal to Limit Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Emissions
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| Missouri currently gets more than 80 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants like Ameren's Labadie power plant, pictured here. |
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Time has run out for the public to comment on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
The issue has been highly contentious.
By late November, the EPA had already received more than 1.6 million comments on its proposed rule.
Under the EPA's plan, Missouri would need to reduce its carbon emissions 21 percent by the year 2030.
John Hickey, who directs the Sierra Club's Missouri chapter, said the state should be able to exceed that goal just by following through on existing plans.
Those include increasing investments in renewable energy, improving energy efficiency and closing down some coal-fired power plants.
"If you look at coal plants where there has already been an announced retirement date set, that gets us a big chunk of the way there," Hickey said.
Hickey cited the example of Ameren's Meramec power plant in South St. Louis County, which is slated for closure by 2022.
Currently, about 80 percent of Missouri's electricity comes from burning coal.
Hickey said the new carbon limits would have the collateral benefit of improving human health by reducing other air pollutants from power plants, like sulfur dioxide and fine particulates, which can cause asthma and increase the risk of heart disease.
Hickey said it would also increase the number of jobs in the renewable energy sector and drive down electricity rates by increasing energy efficiency.
But electricity companies like Ameren disagree.
In a written statement provided to St. Louis Public Radio, Ameren said the proposed rule would cause "significant" cost increases to customers and raise "serious system reliability risks."
Ameren said the proposal sets an unrealistic timeline for compliance and that states should be given more flexibility in how to structure and implement final emission targets.
This fall, Ameren released its own 20-year energy generation plan. The company said that plan "meets the EPA's objective to reduce [greenhouse gas] emissions, over a slightly longer time period, while saving our customers nearly $4 billion and protecting system reliability."
You can read all of Ameren's comments on the EPA's proposed rule here, here, and here.
You can read the Sierra Club's comments here.
The EPA has until June 1, 2015, to respond to comments and issue its final carbon dioxide standards.
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