American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2019 - 29

guidance says, "Agencies should assess
effects when a sufficiently close causal
relationship exists between the proposed
action and the effect. A 'but for' causal
relationship is not sufficient.
"Agencies should attempt to quantify
a proposed action's projected direct and
reasonably foreseeable indirect GHG
emissions when the amount of those
emissions is substantial enough to warrant
quantification and when it is practicable
to quantify them using available data and
GHG quantification tools," CEQ continues.
"Agencies should consider whether quantifying a proposed action's projected reasonably foreseeable GHG emissions . . .

would be overly speculative."
CEQ adds that agencies are not required to quantify effects when necessary
information is unavailable, not of high
quality, "or the complexity of identifying
emissions would make quantification
overly speculative."
The guidance says considering the
effect of GHG emissions does not require agencies to expand the range of
federal actions subject to NEPA review
or to develop new NEPA implementing
procedures.
Looking at the use of cost/benefit
analyses, the proposed guidance notes
that NEPA and CEQ's implementing reg-

ulations do not require agencies to monetize costs and benefits of a proposed action. "For this reason, an agency need
not weigh the effects of the various alternatives in NEPA . . . using any monetized
social cost of carbon estimates and related
documents, or other similar metrics,"
CEQ states.
Comments identified by ID number
CEQ-2019-0002 on the proposed GHG
guidance may be submitted through the
Federal eRulemaking portal at
https://www.regulations.gov, for 30 days
from the date the guidance was published
in the Federal Register.
❒

EPA Finalizes ACE, Repeals The CPP
WASHINGTON-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has delivered
on a Donald Trump campaign promise
to the coal industry by repealing President
Obama's Clean Power Plan (CPP), which
was designed to push electric generation
away from coal toward renewables, and
replaced it with the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule.
On June 19, EPA issued a prepublication notice finalizing three rule makings:
· Repealing the CPP;
· Finalizing ACE; and
· Finalizing new regulations for implementing ACE and any future emission
guidelines issued under Clean Air Act
Section 111(d).
"Today, we are delivering on one of
President Trump's core priorities: ensuring
the American public has access to affordable, reliable energy in a manner that
continues our nation's environmental
progress," declared EPA Administrator
Andrew Wheeler in announcing ACE.
"Unlike the CPP, ACE adheres to the
Clean Air Act and gives states the regulatory certainty they need to continue to
reduce emissions and provide a dependable, diverse supply of electricity that all
Americans can afford," Wheeler added.
A number of Democrat attorneys general disagree, however. Published reports
say California Attorney General Xavier
Becerra called ACE "more than ill-advised.
It is unlawful," at a press conference in
Santa Barbara, where he vowed to challenge ACE in court for failing to fulfill
the CAA's bare-bones requirement to reduce carbon emissions. Becerra was joined
by the attorneys general of Iowa, Colorado
and Oregon, the reports say, noting that
18 attorneys general previously had signed
a comment letter to EPA apposing ACE.
Published reports also quote Washington Governor and Democrat presidential

candidate Jay Inslee promising to sue
along with New York Attorney General
Letitia James.
Affordable Clean Energy Rule
The CPP was announced by EPA
under President Obama in August 2015
with the intent of cutting carbon dioxide
emissions 32% below 2005 levels by
2030 (AOGR, September 2015, pg. 158).
In its ACE announcement, EPA points
out that traditionally, CAA Section 111
rules were based on add-on controls or
lower-emitting processes, practices or designs applied to individual sources. "The
CPP was designed to reduce emissions
by shifting the balance of coal-, gas- and
renewable-generated power across the
nation's power grid," EPA says, adding it
now believes that such an approach exceeds its authority.
EPA points out that 150 entities, including states, trade associations, labor
unions and rural electric cooperatives,
filed lawsuits against the CPP, leading
the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an indefinite stay against the rule in February
2016.
ACE, which does not set specific CO2
reduction goals, according to EPA, identifies heat rate improvements (HRIs) as
the best system of emission reduction
(BSER) for CO2 from coal-fired electric
generating units. ACE states that "the
BSER must be applicable to, at, and on
the premises of an affected facility," and
lists six HRI candidate technologies:
· Neural network/intelligent soot
blowers;
· Boiler feed pumps;
· Air heater and duct leakage control;
· Variable frequency drives;
· Blade path upgrade (steam turbine);
and

· Redesign/replace economizer.
Under ACE, states are to establish
unit-specific standards of performance
that reflect the emission limitation achievable through applying BSER technologies.
States will have three years to submit
plans, which EPA says is consistent with
other CAA timelines.
Finally, by issuing new implementing
regulations, EPA says it is "making it
clear that states have broad discretion in
establishing and applying emission standards consistent with the BSER."
The implementing regulations, the
agency continues, "make clear that . . .
EPA identifies the BSER; states establish
standards of performance for existing
sources within their jurisdictions consistent
with that BSER and also with the flexibility
to consider source-specific factors, including remaining useful life; and sources
then meet those standards using the technologies or techniques they believe are
most appropriate."
On its publication in the Federal
Register, EPA says, ACE and its accompanying notices will be posted at
https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sourcesair-pollution/electric-utility-generatingunits-emission-guidelines-greenhouse.
❒

Coming In August
The Colorado Oil & Gas Association will host the 2019 Energy Summit, Aug. 26-28 at the Colorado
Convention Center in Denver. See
the Official Convention Section in
the August issue of The American Oil
& Gas Reporter.
JULY 2019 29

https://www.regulations.gov https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/electric-utility-generating-units-emission-guidelines-greenhouse https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/electric-utility-generating-units-emission-guidelines-greenhouse https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/electric-utility-generating-units-emission-guidelines-greenhouse

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2019

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