Advocacy Comments on Supplemental Proposal and Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis for EPA’s GHG Power Plant Rules

On May 23, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new source performance standard for greenhouse (GHG) emissions from new fossil fuel power plants and emission guidelines (PDF, 223 KB) for existing fossil fuel power plants. The EPA proposed standards that would require carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) or co-firing natural gas with low-GHG hydrogen for a significant subset of new and existing power plants. The EPA certified that the new source standards would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities but also requested comment on more stringent policy options. Advocacy filed public comments on this rule on August 8, 2023.

The possibility that these more stringent policy options could be adopted in the final rule prompted the EPA to convene an SBREFA panel. The panel concluded its report in October 2023.

On November 23, 2023, the EPA published the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking and released an initial regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA). The EPA requested comment on small business flexibilities and reliability concerns but did not include any changes to the May proposal.

• The IRFA does not describe the likely impacts of the proposed rule because the EPA has not responded to the available information in public comments or SBREFA consultations and does not include an analysis of the more stringent policy options under consideration.
• The EPA’s analysis does not demonstrate that the proposal would meet the reliability needs of the electrical system.
• Advocacy recommends the EPA adopt more flexible standards for small entities when reliability is a concern because of the retirement of existing sources, the need for additional transmission capacity, and supply chain challenges.

For more information, please contact Dave Rostker at david.rostker@sba.gov or call 202-205-6966.

Document

Comment Letter, New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions (PDF, 223 KB)