Plans to capture emissions from coal-fired power plants are not yet ready for wide scale application an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) panel in the United States has been told.
Proposed pollution standards for new power plants in the US should not rely on a soon-to-be completed project in Mississippi as an example of how to capture emissions from coal-fired power plants, the plant’s owner have said.
Reuters Newsagency reports the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a central part of the climate change plan proposed by President Barack Obama.
Danny Herrin, director of environmental affairs at the Southern Company utility, was one of more than 100 witnesses to testify at the EPA’s first public hearing on its proposed rule targeting carbon emissions from new plants
In Kemper County, Mississippi, Southern is building one of the world’s first advanced coal-fired plants capable of capturing carbon dioxide emissions through the CCS process.
CCS is a process of capturing carbon waste from sources such as power plants, and transporting it to storage sites, often underground.
The technology has not yet been deployed on a commercial scale, but the EPA highlighted the pending Kemper project in September when the agency unveiled plans to set strict limits on the amount of carbon dioxide that can be generated by newly-built US power plants.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said at the time that projects like Kemper would use CCS technology already available.
Reuters reports Southern tried to distance itself from the EPA at that time.
Mr Herrin strengthened Southern’s call on the EPA to refrain from using Kemper as an example of the current viability of CCS and from there justify setting tough standards for all new coal plants.
“Kemper marks a significant technological milestone but it is only the first step,” Mr Herrin said.
He added that the EPA’s proposed standards should also not rely on the handful of other demonstration CCS projects now being developed.
Under the Clean Air Act, the basis for the proposed power plant rule, the EPA must set pollution standards using the “best system of emission reduction” using technology that has been “adequately demonstrated.”
Reuters reports questions about the viability of CCS came up several times in the hearing, from both opponents and supporters of the proposed EPA rule.
The EPA issued a notice for public comment to demonstrate that it did not rely solely on the federally funded projects to show CCS was the best available technology, but also considered “other information.”
