The Business Roundtable’s hit list – and OSHA isn’t on it!
$ GHG Regulations — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in December 2010 that it would propose Clean Air Act GHG New Source Performance Standards for electric generating units and petroleum refineries in 2011. EPA recently has announced that it will not propose NSPS for petroleum refineries until 2013. However, on March 27, 2012, EPA released its proposed NSPS for new electric generating units larger than 25 MW. This proposed rule would require all new powerplants to emit no more than 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour generated. This emissions level is roughly equivalent to emissions from a new combined cycle natural gas turbine, thus effectively eliminating new coal-fired powerplants unless equipped with carbon capture and sequestration technologies, technologies that today are not commercially or economically available. While EPA has indicated that it has no current plans to extend the NSPS to existing powerplants, the Clean Air Act may make that position untenable, thus calling into question the impact on the existing coal fleet, which is also facing new requirements pursuant to the utility MACT rule, emissions reductions under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and possibly new investments pursuant to the upcoming Cooling Water Intake Structures rule (316(b) of the Clean Water Act).
$ Hydraulic Fracturing — Multiple federal agencies are considering regulating hydraulic fracturing. The EPA has finalized a suite of new regulations for the oil and natural gas industry, including the first federal air standard for wells that are hydraulically fractured. These regulations include a new source performance standard for volatile organic compounds; a new source performance standard for sulfur dioxide; an air toxics standard for oil and natural gas production; and an air toxics standard for natural gas transmission and storage.