MJB&A and the Analysis Group issued this Fall 2011 update to an earlier analysis, "Ensuring a Clean, Modern Electric Generating Fleet while Maintaining Electric System Reliability," published in August 2010. This is the third installment in a series of reports focusing on the reliability implications of two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) clean air rules affecting the electric power sector: (1) the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“Transport Rule”) and (2) the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired electric utility steam generating units (“Utility Toxics Rule”).
The first report, published in August 2010, concluded that the electric industry is well-positioned to comply with EPA’s proposed air regulations without threatening electric system reliability. The Summer 2011 update, published in August, supplemented the original analysis in light of new information and reaffirmed the prior report’s major conclusion that the electric industry can comply with EPA’s air pollution rules without threatening electric system reliability. The August report noted that proper planning and implementation can secure important public health benefits, reliable electric service, and efficient market outcomes.
This “Fall 2011 Update” focuses on the many tools that are available for ensuring electric reliability as companies comply with the EPA rules by installing modern pollution control systems, utilizing allowances or retiring portions of the fleet that are uneconomic to retrofit. Federal and state regulators agree that the industry has the tools to maintain electric system reliability even in the face of coal plant retirements.
The report is available here.