Clean Power State Implementation Plan; DEQ prohibited from expending funds, etc., federal ruling. (SB1442)

Introduced By

Sen. Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach)

Description

Implementation of Clean Power Plan rule. Prohibits the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from expending funds to develop or implement a Clean Power State Implementation Plan (Plan) required under Clean Air Act 111(d) for existing power plants until federal judicial review as to the legality of a final U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule has been fully resolved. The DEQ is also prohibited from expending funds to implement a Plan until that Plan is approved by the Air Pollution Control Board (Board). The Board is prohibited from expending funds to develop or approve a Plan until federal judicial review as to the legality of a final EPA rule has been fully resolved. The Board is also prohibited from regulating or spending funds to implement a Plan until (i) both Senate and House of Delegates committees with jurisdiction over the federal Clean Air Act have, or an advisory committee appointed by these committees has, affirmatively approved the Plan and approved a report submitted by the State Corporation Commission (SCC) on the impact of the affordability and reliability of the Plan on commercial and residential consumers, and (ii) the SCC finds that the Plan will guarantee full compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reliability standards. The SCC is required to cap non-fuel rate increases associated with greenhouse gas regulations at 1.5 percent. The SCC is directed not to allow electric generating units to be retired prior to the end of their engineering lifetime, as proposed in order to comply with a Plan, unless the owners have fully recouped the cost of construction and financing, the replacement generation results in lower costs to consumers, and there is sufficient replacement capacity to meet dispatchable capacity of the unit to be retired. Further, the SCC is directed not to allow an electric generating unit to be retired prior to the end of its engineering lifetime if the unit is necessary to maintain the grid reliability specified by the FERC in its reliability standards. Finally, the SCC is directed to require that existing electric generating units be operated in accordance with their design parameters and in such a manner as to ensure operation consonant with the design life of the unit. Read the Bill »

Outcome

History