Power industry warns of greenhouse gas plan side effect
The DEP has proposed setting a hard cap on Massachusetts power plant emissions in 2018 that declines year-over-year by 2.5 percent, according to New England Power Generators Association President Dan Dolan.
As regulators make adjustments to the state's approach in reducing global warming, environmental advocates and electricity generators both urged consideration of how new rules could affect power plant emissions outside state borders.
Spurred by a high court case demanding a multi-faceted approach to complying with a greenhouse gas reduction law and an executive order from Gov. Charlie Baker, the Department of Environmental Protection proposed a set of regulations on power plants, pipelines and the transportation sector that it estimates could reduce emissions by 7.2 percent.
The DEP has proposed setting a hard cap on Massachusetts power plant emissions in 2018 that declines year-over-year by 2.5 percent, according to New England Power Generators Association President Dan Dolan, one of several people who offered feedback to environmental regulators at the DEP on Monday.
"What they're going to do is limit the amount you can emit; therefore the amount that you can run. But the electricity demand is still going to be there, and so while the Massachusetts plants will have their run-times capped, it is then going to force that demand to be met by outside power plants - so plants in Rhode Island and Connecticut that wouldn't be running otherwise, aren't the most efficient and are higher emitting than the resources in place," Dolan told the News Service. He said, "Right now there's no commercially available technology to limit the carbon emissions other than running less."
Grady McGonagill, of Elders Climate Action, expressed a similar concern about importing electricity from high-emitting out-of-state plants and he proposed imposing emissions limits on electricity consumed in Massachusetts rather than just the power generated in-state. McGonagill said about 50 percent of the state's electricity consumption is from out-of-state producers.
Massachusetts already participates in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system that allows producers to exceed caps for a price.
While the power sector has dramatically reduced its emissions since 1990, transportation sector emissions have climbed since then despite more stringent fuel efficiency standards and efforts to promote alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles.
Between 1990 and 2013, transportation sector emissions in Massachusetts increased while electric sector emissions decreased by 42 percent, according to the Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP expects its policies will lead to a 3.1 percent reduction in transportation emissions.
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