EPA rolls out new rules on carbon emissions from power plants, plus more news, this week in CIB:

Washington Watch: EPA Unveils New Rules on Power Plants

The EPA last week rolled out the specifics of a central pillar of the Obama Administration’s climate action plan: new rules on carbon emissions from power plants.

The rules as laid out on Friday by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy largely follow the outlines announced last year, incorporating tough specific limits on the amount of carbon dioxide which can be released per unit of electricity produced. The final proposal incorporated some variance between the standards for gas-fired plants versus coal-fired plants. However, the standard imposed on coal plant emissions remained strong enough to require ambitious new technology such as carbon capture.

Political reaction was predictable, with coal industry spokesmen and opposition Congressional leaders sputtering that the standards were unjustified and unaffordable. A 60-day public comment clock prior to the finalization of the rules will be started shortly. Legal and legislative challenges to the proposed rules are certain.

In announcing the rule specifics, McCarthy said that they would “slow the effects of climate change and fulfill our obligation to ensure a safe and healthy environment for our children” as well as “spark the innovation we need to build the next generation of power plants, helping grow a more sustainable clean energy economy.” EPA’s complete news release, plus links to the proposed rules and related information, can be found here.

Reaction by environmental advocates was supportive. LCV President Gene Karpinski said, “It’s a great day for public health and a clean energy future. These limits on carbon pollution are so common sense that most Americans assume they’re already in place. Carbon pollution is creating conditions that increase asthma attacks and extreme weather like floods, heat waves, and droughts nationwide. Any attempts by Congress to block implementation of these limits would go against the majority of Americans who support these common sense steps and would only benefit the country’s biggest polluters.”

Nuclear Update: Duke Clutches at Lee Plant Mirage

Despite its recent moves to delay any further progress on its proposed new nuclear plant in upstate South Carolina, Duke Energy continues to insist in multiple public forums that it wants ultimately to move forward with its Lee nuke.

Analysts note that since Duke’s 2007 announcement of plans to revive the old nuclear goal, many factors have come together to undercut Duke’s radioactive dreams:

• Duke’s customer base growth has slowed dramatically.
• A long-time trend of increased power use per customer has reversed itself.
• Natural gas as a power plant fuel has become much cheaper (as has solar-generated electricity, in fact).
• Costs and risks of new nuclear construction have risen dramatically.

For further discussion of these factors, see here.

Given these changes, why is Duke still insisting that it wants to build the Lee plant, and chasing that mirage? For perspective on that question, we recommend looking back to the history of the most recent previous nuclear construction market collapse. In the mid-1970s, Duke and other utilities issued wild electric demand growth projections. By the end of that decade, those demand growth projections had collapsed (and they never recovered). Still, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that Duke officially pulled the plug on its dream of another nuke in upstate South Carolina. (It was then called the “Cherokee” plant instead of “Lee”.)

What changed? Utility financing laws changed in North Carolina in 1982, cutting off Duke’s easy access to involuntary ratepayer CWIP (“Construction Work In Progress”) funding of uncompleted new power construction. Forced to rely much more heavily on voluntary investor financing, Duke had to call it quits on the speculative and unneeded plant. In 2007, the N.C. General Assembly gifted Duke with a restoration of easy CWIP financing. Duke’s announcement that year of revived nuclear construction plans was no mere coincidence.

We predict that Duke will continue to allow the Lee plant mirage to nurse off the public’s pocketbooks so long as easy CWIP financing continues to be available.

Campaign Watch: Eye on Asheville

Asheville has a reputation as one of North Carolina’s most environment-friendly cities, especially among those communities outside the hypergreen hotbed of Orange County. That makes its municipal electoral contests worthy of a special look to see what’s coming up in this green mountain town.

Thus our attention was caught last week by coverage of the Western NC Sierra Club’s endorsements in the Asheville mayoral and city council races. The Sierra nods went to Esther Manheimer for mayor; and Cecil Bothwell, Gordon Smith, and Gwen Wisler for council. Manheimer is one of three candidates filed for mayor, and so faces an October 8 primary. The council candidates all go directly into the November 5 general election, where voters will pick the top three of six candidates.

Like many cities, Asheville faces questions about the future of its transportation system, its water supply, energy efficiency, and other important environmental issues.

Education & Resources: Local Solar Ordinances

Speaking of environmental issues at the city level, this week we remind our readers of the fourth planned public forum on development of local ordinances to facilitate the construction of photovoltaic energy production facilities (a.k.a., solar farms). The purpose of the forums is to gather public input and discussion for the drafting of a template or model solar ordinance which can be adopted by local governments around the state.

This week’s forum is Tuesday, September 24, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Carolina Civic Center, 315 N. Chestnut St., Lumberton. The forums are co-sponsored by the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association and the N.C. Solar Center. The fifth and final forum is set for October 18 in Charlotte.

For more information and to register, go here.

That’s our report for this week.