Magazines World
Coal Hydrocarbon Engineering LNG Industry Oilfield Technology World Pipelines World Cement

Palladian
Publications.

Sign in | Subscribe
| Contact us | Newsletter

MENU

Home

News

Coal

Mining

Preparation

Handling

Ports
& terminals

Power

Special
reports

CBM

Product
news

Magazines

World
Coal

Special
reports

Directory

Events

Media

Advertise

FAQs

Contact
us

You are here: Home »

News »

Coal news articles
»

An ideal time for the coal industry to
act

An ideal time for the coal industry to act

EPA's proposed rule for new coal plants has been called a 'war on coal". The
"war on coal" occurs because the standard in the proposed rule can only be
achieved by the installation of a costly technology called CCS, carbon capture
and sequestration, which virtually no utility can neither afford nor implement
and will result in a ban on the construction of new coal plants.

The CCS technology has been denigrated by a panel of EPA administrative law
judges in that they have just recently concluded that the installation of the
technology will be overly costly. EPA's proposed rule for new plants pre-dates
the aforementioned decision made by its administrative law judges and therefore
opens the door for the coal industry to act immediately to seek the reasoned
relief explained below.

To this end months ago CRE advised the battalion of utilities, trade
associations, law firms and lobbyists working on this matter that if EPA
complied with the Data Quality Act (DQA) in a manner previously noted by the EPA
Inspector General on a related issue, that the issue regarding the commercial
availability of the CCS technology would be reviewed by an impartial panel of
experts not affiliated with EPA and with input from the public and
stakeholders.

The CRE Letter to EPA, which can be accessed here in summary, merely requests that EPA conduct a
peer review of CCS as required by the Data Quality Act; an action which EPA has
refused to implement as of this date and therefore makes it in violation of
existing law and therefore amenable to a corrective action by the court.

Legal analyses conducted by CRE concludes
that a judicial action which requests that the court direct EPA to comply with
an existing law, the Data Quality Act, can and should be taken prior to the
issuance of a final rule for new coal fired plants.

The aforementioned legal action would be strengthened if the EPA Inspector
General were to issue a sequel to its landmark report on EPA's gross failure to
comply with the peer review requirements of the Data Quality Act in its
endangerment finding but focusing this time on the proposed regulation for new
coal fired plants.

It would seem that a clear violation of the Data Quality Act coupled with the
reinforcing decision by both an EPA administrative law body and by one or more
decisions of the EPA Inspector General would bring the most risk adverse
individuals who are fearful of retaliation out of seclusion.

In that the Administration has proposed rules for new coal plants and is
expected to release proposed rules for existing plants next week, the
Administration will have put all its cards on the table. The narrow window of
time available prior to the issuance of a final rule for new plants should be
used to seek and obtain the judicial relief described above because the
resultant action is science based, economically sound and is grounded in well
established principles of administrative law. The recommended action will be
further enhanced when the underlying rational is explained to the American
public and in full recognition of the fact that the rule for existing plants can
not be issued in final form until which time EPA has first issued a final rule
on new plants.

It is time to change from a "war on coal" to a "war by coal" to exercise
their legal rights.

Source: Center for Regulatory Effectiveness.

Edited by Katie
Woodward

Published on 29/05/2014

Related article

Comments

Recommend magazines

Related articles

EPA
coal ash decision applauded

CCP company Headwaters has applauded the US EPA for its regulatory decision
on coal ash.

King
Coal, Dethroned?

In World Coal’s November Industry View, Joseph Van Den Berg, Owen Ward and
Jason Palmenberg, Booz & Co., US, detail reasons for confidence in the US
coal industry.

EPA
clarifies CCS technology

The US EPA has issued a final rule that clarifies the safe and effective
deployment of CCS technologies.

CCS
endorsed as key to combating climate change

Energy and environment ministers from the Carbon Sequestration Leadership
Forum’s member nations have endorsed CCS as a vital tool to help fight climate
change.

Write your own comments

Your
name

*

Email address

*

Comments

Your comments
*

Recommend magazines

Our most popular articles

Magazines

World Coal is a portal to added value information generated by Palladian
Publications' coal-sector magazine. With a unique industry insight via a
combination of news, reviews, comments, analysis, reports, case studies,
technical articles and more.

Latest issues

News

Coal

Mining

Preparation

Handling

Ports
& terminals

Power

Special
reports

CBM

Product
news

Quick links

Home

Magazines

Industry directory

Events

Media

FAQs

Join our
newsletter

Sign in

Subscription
renewal

Quick links

Contact us

About us

Staff

Advertise with us

Sitemap

Privacy statement

Terms & conditions

Security

Website cookies

Copyright ©

Palladian Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | Tel: +44 (0)1252 718 999 |
Email: mailto:enquiries%40worldcoal.com