The extensive emissions controls required for coal-based generating units under Environmental Protection Agency rulemakings entail significant challenges for utilities, and electric cooperatives in particular, NRECA cautioned federal regulators.
EPA’s proposed Electric Utility Generating Unit Hazardous Air Pollution Rule, combined with its final Cross State Air Pollution Rule, “pose serious implications for electric reliability and/or affordable wholesale power,” the association underscored.
These implications are particularly severe for electric co-ops, NRECA told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in a Dec. 9 filing. The commission asked for comments at the conclusion of its Nov. 29-30 technical conference on reliability, which focused in part on EPA’s regulations.
In explaining the stakes for co-ops, NRECA noted that most G&Ts are small entities compared to their utility industry counterparts, and thus will not be priority customers for engineering and emissions control companies that will supply and install the needed equipment.
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