The Department of Environmental Protection unveiled its proposal to reduce mercury emissions at power plants this week and the Public Utility Commission published proposed regulations and reopened a comment period on requirements implementing the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard. Here are the details...

DEP Unveils Mercury Emission Reduction Rule in Concept to Work Group

The Department of Environmental Protection this week briefed the Mercury Work Group and members of other advisory committees on the outline of its proposed rule for reducing mercury emissions from power plants.

(See also the article in this Digest on the House Committee hearing on mercury.)

The proposed rule would go beyond federal mercury emission limits now in place by requiring earlier reductions (2015 versus 2018) and that all emission reductions needed to get to the federal mercury emission cap take place in Pennsylvania, rather than allowing Pennsylvania power plants to buy or sell emission reduction credits from utilities in other states as they do now under other air pollution credit trading programs.

Emissions trading would allow power plants to over-control mercury emissions at one plant where it was most effective and take credit for the extra reductions at another plant where controls may not be as cost effective. Emissions credits have worked successfully to reduce air pollution associated with lead, carbon monoxide, particulates, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

DEP did not propose reducing the overall federal cap on mercury emissions for Pennsylvania established under the EPA rule and is not requiring mercury-specific mercury emission controls. Under the federal rule, and now the DEP proposal, the mercury emissions budget or cap would drop from 4.9 tons now down to about 0.7 tons by 2015.

DEP estimates its proposed rule will mean that an additional 800 pounds of mercury will be reduced annually in Pennsylvania by 2010 over the federal rule reductions and another 700 pounds annually by 2015. These estimates are based on the prohibition against trading credits with utilities in other states and the decisions DEP assumes utilities would make in adding controls to existing power plants under the federal rule.

DEP’s proposed rule does authorize a limited form of trading emission reduction credits any where within Pennsylvania from utilities that go beyond the minimum mercury reductions to those that may not achieve the required reductions. The credits would be owned and allocated by DEP, not individual utilities, unlike in the other air pollution trading programs.

Under DEP’s limited credit trading program, DEP’s assumes a power plant will be in compliance with its mercury reduction regulation if it installs certain air pollution control technologies. If the technologies do not actually perform to meet the mercury reduction requirement, DEP will allocate any available mercury emission reduction credits from those units that over-controlled to the units that is not performing.

DEP also provided an exemption in its proposal from Phase I mercury controls for utilities that replace older, existing coal-fired plants with new coal gasification plants that produce gas from coal that is then burned to generate electricity. There would be no exemption from Phase II.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must approve DEP’s mercury reduction plan and specifically the proposed “presumption” that a unit meets the mercury standard if it installs certain air pollution control equipment and the exemption from the Phase I regulation. At the meeting this week the representative from EPA said he was hearing these concepts for the first time, but would obviously review them closely as the regulation is considered.

DEP said it will meet March 6 and 13 with the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee and DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council to receive additional comment on the concepts they outlined. DEP is expected to have regulatory language at the March 13 meeting.

The regulation will then be sent to the Environmental Quality Board at the May 17 meeting for consideration with the goal of obtaining public comment over the summer and publishing a final rule in time to meet the federal deadline for having a mercury regulation in place in November.

For more information visit the Mercury Work Group webpage.

NewsClip: DEP Announces State-Specific Mercury Reduction Plan

PUC Alternative Energy Rules - Interconnection Standards, Default Service

The Public Utility Commission published a proposed set of interconnection standards for customer generators under the state Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act for public comment. Comments are due March 28.

The PUC also published a notice saying it was reopening the comment period for proposed rules governing provisions for default service under the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act originally published February 25, 2005 asking for input on a specific list of eight issues. Comments are due March 8.

Pennsylvania Bulletin – February 25, 2006

Comment Deadlines: Technical Guidance (DEP website)

Copies of Proposed Regulations (DEP website)

Status of Regulations, 6-Month Calendar (DEP website)

2/24/2006