Archive:June 5, 2014

1
Implications of EPA Emissions Rules for Renewables
2
EPA Promulgates Final Standards for Cooling Water Intake Structures

Implications of EPA Emissions Rules for Renewables

Renewable energy will play a major role in EPA’s latest proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electric generating facilities.   On June 2, 2014, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy proposed a new regulation for cutting carbon pollution from existing electric generating units (EGUs).  This rule is perhaps the most significant action to date in the President’s Climate Action Plan announced last year.  The rule will require EGUs to reduce their CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 from 2005 levels.   EPA assigned a CO2 goal for each state but lets states choose how best to meet the goal.   Read More

EPA Promulgates Final Standards for Cooling Water Intake Structures

Introduction

On May 19, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a long-delayed final rulemaking regulating cooling water intake structures at existing facilities under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). For more than two decades, environmental advocates have pushed EPA to issue a rule under Section 316(b) in order to protect aquatic organisms, such as fish and shellfish, that become pinned against cooling water intake structures (impingement) or are drawn into cooling water systems (entrainment). Previously, EPA issued rules governing cooling water intakes at new facilities. The latest rulemaking addresses intakes at existing facilities. If unchallenged in court, this final rule would conclude what has been more than twenty years of litigation between EPA and environmental organizations.

Section 316(b) requires that the location, design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures for facilities having a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit “reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact.” [1] The final rule seeks to minimize environmental harm associated with cooling water intake structures by identifying the best technology available (BTA) to reduce impingement and entrainment for certain categories of existing facilities and new units at existing facilities. These new requirements will be implemented through NPDES permits under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act. Read More

Copyright © 2024, K&L Gates LLP. All Rights Reserved.