Common Resources

Energy Efficiency in 111(d): Understanding Building Block #4

EPA’s recently released Clean Power Plan to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act includes four building blocks that are used to establish the target CO2 emissions rate for each state. Earlier blog posts by my RFF colleagues have described these different building blocks; my focus here […]

Twitter Q&A Roundup: EPA’s Clean Air Plan

On June 5, RFF hosted a seminar titled, “Making Sense of EPA’s Proposed Rule for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants.” We did not have time to answer all of the questions posed by our Twitter audience during that event due to time constraints. Below are our responses to some of those questions. #askRFF […]

EPA’s Proposal vs. a Carbon Price - Initial Thoughts

As I mentioned last week, my colleague Art Fraas and I have a new paper in which we compare EPA regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act to most (though not all) economists’ preferred alternative - a carbon price (either cap and trade or a carbon tax). When we wrote the paper, no concrete regulatory or […]

What’s In the BSER: EPA’s Process for Setting State Goals in the Clean Power Plan

EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan uses a rarely used section of the Clean Air Act, Section 111(d) to regulate existing fossil-fired electric generating units (EGUs). This part of the Clean Air Act, like the more familiar provisions governing ambient air quality for more traditional pollutants, gives EPA the task of determining an acceptable target for emissions […]

EPA’s Carbon Proposal - Which States Have The Biggest Burden Isn’t Simple

The Wall Street Journal yesterday criticized EPA’s recent proposed standards for carbon emissions from existing power plants on the grounds that they will have a large disproportionate impact across states. That may or may not be the case, but figuring out which states have a greater burden is not as simple as the WSJ implies. […]

2005 vs. 2012 in EPA’s Proposal

EPA’s existing source performance standards (ESPS) proposal from Monday claims it will achieve 30% emissions reductions from the power sector by 2030. That reduction is relative to 2005 emissions - a target that’s important because of the president’s stated goal in Copenhagen of 17% economy-wide emissions reductions from 2005 by 2020. If that goal is […]

Comparing the Clean Air Act and a Carbon Price

As readers likely have heard by this point, EPA proposed performance standards for carbon emissions from existing power plants on Monday. This major climate policy move is perhaps most notable in that it happened without new legislation from Congress. Economists have long argued that an economywide carbon price is the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. This […]

Legal Risks in EPA’s Existing Source Proposal

EPA’s existing source proposal is the cornerstone of the administration’s climate policy and, once finalized next year, will be the most signifcant federal climate policy move to date. Even relatively minor EPA rules face legal challenge from industry, environmental groups, or both. This rule’s significance means it will be no exception. Legal challenges will not come until the […]

Can Natural Gas Deliver the Goods to Obama’s Carbon Policy?

The success of President Obama’s new plans for reducing carbon emissions from power plants will rest heavily on the natural gas industry. The key building block of that plan is to ramp up the use of natural gas. Before the shale gas revolution natural gas prices were a good deal higher than they are today. But shale […]

Notes on Today’s Existing Source Rule

Today, EPA announced proposed performance standards for existing power plants under the Clean Air Act (also known as the existing source performance standards, or ESPS). Attention to the proposal is deservedly high, and it’s a monster of a rule (645 pages, at least in this unformatted version). That means general overviews are already out, and […]