POWER December 2020 - 10

GLOBAL MONITOR
THE BIG PICTURE: Regulatory Roundup
Over its 50-year history, several rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reshaped the power sector. But for
at least a few modern rules, the road has been full of turns. Notes: CAA = Clean Air Act; BSER = best system of emission reduction; CO2
carbon dioxide; GHG = greenhouse gases; FIP = federal implementation plan; PM = particulate matter; ppb = parts per billion; NO2
dioxide; NOx = nitrogen oxides; SO2 = sulfur dioxide.
=
= nitrogen
-Sonal Patel is POWER's senior associate editor.
NATIONAL
AMBIENT AIR
QUALITY
STANDARDS
(NAAQS)
July 2009-EPA
proposes a revision to
the NO2
primary
NAAQS.
Feb. 2010-EPA finalizes
a NO2
NAAQS revision,
establishing a new
1-hour standard at a
level of 100 ppb.
Dec. 2009-EPA proposes revisions
to the SO2
primary NAAQS.
Oct. 1994-EPA enters into
settlement that requires
completion of the " Utility Air
Toxics Study. "
MERCURY
AND AIR
TOXICS
STANDARDS
(MATS)
Dec. 2015-D.C. Circuit
upholds MATS, allowing
EPA to continue enforcing
MATS when it resolves cost
considerations.
Oct. 2015-EPA finalizes
primary and secondary
NAAQS for ozone,
setting a 70 ppb level.
July 2020-EPA
July 2017-EPA
reviews NAAQS
for NOx
.
June 2010-EPA finalizes a SO2
establishing a new 1-hour SO2
of 75 ppb.
Feb. 1998-EPA issues the Utility Air
Toxics Study to Congress. The study
focuses on power plant toxic air
pollutants, including mercury.
Dec. 2000-EPA finds it is
" appropriate and necessary " to
regulate coal- and oil-fired plants
under Section 112 of the CAA.
June 2015-The Supreme Court,
5-4, overturns MATS in Michigan v.
EPA, finding that EPA's failure to
consider costs for MATS is unlawful.
April 2016-EPA finalizes
supplemental cost finding for
MATS, finding costs do not
alter determination that it is
" appropriate and necessary " to
regulate power plant toxic air
pollution.
June 2016-The Supreme
Court leaves the D.C.
Circuit decision in place.
primary NAAQS,
standard at a level
April 2018-In a final
decision, EPA retains
existing 2010 NOx
NAAQS.
April 2020-EPA
proposes to retain
current primary and
secondary PM NAAQS
standards.
Feb. 2019-In a final decision, EPA
retains existing 2010 SO2
NAAQS.
Jan. 2004-EPA issues a proposed
rule with two basic approaches: a
maximum achievable control
technology approach (MACT), and a
cap-and-trade approach.
Dec. 2011-EPA finalizes MATS,
promulgating first federal rule that
regulates mercury emissions from
power plants.
Dec. 2018-EPA proposes to reverse its
finding that it is " appropriate and necessary "
to regulate HAPs from power plants citing
compliance costs, but leaves coal and oil
plants on the CAA HAPs list, which means
the 2012 MATS remains in place.
July 2020-EPA proposes amendments to the 2013
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
(NESHAP) for industrial, commercial, and Institutional
boilers and process heaters. The so-called " Boiler MACT "
rule establishes emission standards for categories of
boilers based on MACT.
April 2007-The Supreme
Court issues ruling in
Massachusetts v. EPA, allowing
EPA to regulate CO2
GHGs as pollutants.
GHG
RULES
April 2020-More than
two dozen states and cities
file legal challenges to ACE
Rule.
and other
Dec. 2009-EPA makes
" endangerment finding, " formally
declaring that CO2
are threats to public health and
welfare.
and other GHGs
June 2020-EPA proposes a
rule to overhaul the way it
conducts cost-benefit analyses
under the CAA.
Aug. 2015-As directed by President Obama's
Climate Action Plan, EPA issues the Clean Power Plan
(CPP), emissions guidelines for existing power plants
under CAA Section 111(d), and the New Source
Performance Standards (NSPS)-the first federal rules
regulating CO2
emissions from new and existing
power plants.
July 2019-EPA repeals the CPP and
finalizes the Affordable Clean Energy
rule (ACE). ACE establishes heat rate
improvement or efficiency
improvement as the BSER for CO2
from coal-fired units. State plans are
required by 2022.
June 2010-In response to major
coal ash spills in Tennessee and
North Carolina, the EPA proposes
the Coal Combustion Residuals
(CCR) Rule, requiring lined wet ash
ponds or conversion to dry ash
handling.
COAL ASH
RULE AND
EFFLUENT
LIMITATION
GUIDELINES
(ELGs)
April 2015-EPA finalizes the CCR Rule, the first federal
rule governing coal ash disposal. The rule imposes
construction and operating obligations, including
location restrictions, liner criteria, structural integrity
requirements for impoundments, operating criteria,
and additional groundwater monitoring requirements.
July 2018-EPA finalizes the Phase 1
rule, adopting alternative
performance standards for certain
states, revises groundwater
protection standards, and extends
compliance deadlines.
Aug. 2018-The D.C.
Circuit in Utility Solid Waste
Activities Group v. EPA
strikes down portions of
the 2015 rule that allowed
unlined and clay-lined
impoundments to receive
coal ash and exempted
inactive impoundments.
Aug. 2019-EPA
proposes the Phase II
rule, establishing
location-based criteria
to demonstrate safety
only if coal ash is
disposed in sensitive
locations.
Dec. 2018-EPA proposes
to revise NSPS for new and
modified power plants,
determines that partial
carbon capture and storage
is not the BSER.
Oct. 2015-The CPP is
legally challenged by 27
states, 24 trade
associations, 37 rural
electric cooperatives, and
labor unions.
April 2017-The D.C. Circuit
begins holding CPP litigation in
abeyance. The court ultimately
dismisses the challenges in
September 2019.
Sept. 2015-The Obama administration finalizes
ELGs for steam electric power plants, setting
stringent Best Available Technology (BAT) effluent
limitations and pretreatment standards for existing
sources (PSES) as they apply to bottom ash
transport water and flue gas desulfurization (FGD)
wastewater.
March 2018-EPA announces plans to amend the CCR
rule to allow states to incorporate flexibilities into coal
ash permit programs, citing the WIIN Act, and it
proposes the first (Phase 1) of two rules revising the
2015 rule.
Dec. 2019-In response to the August 2018
D.C. Circuit ruling, EPA proposes a new rule
changing the classification of clay-lined
impoundments from " lined " to " unlined. " It
also establishes a federal CCR permit
program.
April 2017-The Trump
administration
announces its intent to
reconsider the 2015 ELG
rule.
Aug. 2020-EPA finalizes the rule to
implement court's decision in Utility
Solid Waste Activities Group v. EPA,
setting April 2021 as flexible deadline
for closure of unlined surface
impoundments.
Oct. 2020-EPA issues a final ELG rule revising
the technology-based ELGs, extending
timeframes, adding subcategories, and
Oct. 2020-Environmental
groups legally challenge the
2020 ELG rule.
introducing a voluntary incentive program. For
FGD wastewater, the rule establishes numeric
BAT effluent limitations on mercury, arsenic,
selenium, and nitrate/nitrite. For bottom ash
transport water, it revises the 2015 rule's
zero-discharge limitations.
10
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Dec. 2016-Industry
sues EPA over ELGs.
Dec. 2016-President Obama
signs the Water Infrastructure
for Improvements to the Nation
(WIIN) Act, which authorizes
state and federal agencies to
directly regulate coal ash
disposal sites, as opposed to
relying on citizen suits.
Oct. 2020-EPA finalizes a
two-step process to allow a
limited number of facilities to
demonstrate to EPA or a state
that based on groundwater
data and the design of a
particular surface
impoundment, the unit will
have " no probability of
adverse effects on human
health or environment. "
Demonstrations are due in
November 2020.
Jan. 2017-President Trump
issues an executive order
directing EPA to reconsider
the CPP and associated
standards for new sources.
May 2020-Legal
challenges to MATS begin.
March 2005-EPA issues
a final Clean Air Mercury
Rule (CAMR).
Feb. 2008-The D.C. Circuit
March 2011-EPA
proposes MATS to replace
the court-vacated CAMR.
vacates CAMR and also strikes
down EPA's rule removing coal
and oil power plants from a
CAA list of sources of hazardous
air pollutants (HAPs).
April 2020-EPA establishes
MATS subcategory for coal
refuse power units.
proposes to retain
current 2015 ozone
standards.
April 2020-EPA finalizes a
revised cost-benefit analysis,
undermining the legal basis
for continued implementation
of the standards.
Feb. 2016-In an
unprecedented order, the
Supreme Court stays the
CPP, halting its
implementation.
POWER | December 2020

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POWER December 2020

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