[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2980 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2980

 To reduce emissions of mercury, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and 
sulfur dioxide from fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units 
        operating in the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 30, 1999

 Mr. Allen (for himself, Mr. Saxton, Mr. Baldacci, Mrs. Maloney of New 
York, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Capuano, Mr. 
   Delahunt, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Holt, Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island, Mr. 
    Kucinich, Mr. Martinez, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Neal of 
 Massachusetts, Mr. Olver, Mr. Vento, and Mr. Weygand) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce, and in 
      addition to the Committees on Education and the Workforce, 
Transportation and Infrastructure, Banking and Financial Services, and 
Science, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reduce emissions of mercury, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and 
sulfur dioxide from fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units 
        operating in the United States, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Clean Power Plant 
Act of 1999''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Air emission standards for fossil fuel-fired generating units.
Sec. 5. Tonnage cap for carbon dioxide.
Sec. 6. Disposal of mercury captured or recovered through emission 
                            controls.
Sec. 7. Recognition of permanent emission reductions in future climate 
                            change implementation programs.
Sec. 8. Evaluation of implementation of this Act and other statutes.
Sec. 9. Assistance for workers adversely affected by reduced 
                            consumption of coal.
Sec. 10. Community economic development incentives for communities 
                            adversely affected by reduced consumption 
                            of coal.
Sec. 11. Carbon sequestration.
Sec. 12. Property tax relief.
Sec. 13. Hazardous air pollutants from electric utility steam 
                            generating units.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States is relying increasingly on old, 
        inefficient, and highly polluting powerplants to provide 
        electricity;
            (2) the pollution from those powerplants causes a wide 
        range of health and environmental damage, including--
                    (A) fine particulate matter that is associated with 
                the deaths of approximately 50,000 Americans annually;
                    (B) ozone, commonly known as ``smog'', that impairs 
                normal respiratory functions and is of special concern 
                to individuals afflicted with asthma, emphysema, and 
                other respiratory ailments, and causes property damage;
                    (C) rural ozone ``smog'' that impairs normal 
                respiratory functions and is of special concern to 
                individuals afflicted with asthma, emphysema, and other 
                respiratory ailments, and obscures visibility, and 
                damages forests, crops, and wildlife;
                    (D) acid deposition that damages estuaries, lakes, 
                rivers, and streams (and the plants and animals that 
                depend on them for survival) and leaches heavy metals 
                from the soil;
                    (E) mercury and heavy metal contamination that 
                renders fish unsafe to eat, with especially serious 
                consequences for pregnant women and their fetuses;
                    (F) eutrophication of estuaries, lakes, rivers, and 
                streams;
                    (G) global climate change that may fundamentally 
                and irreversibly alter human, animal, and plant life; 
                and
                    (H) mercury and other hazardous and toxic 
                substances found in fossil fuel combustion wastes which 
                may contaminate ground water.
            (3) tax laws and environmental laws--
                    (A) provide a very strong incentive for electric 
                utilities to keep old, dirty, and inefficient 
                generating units in operation; and
                    (B) provide a strong disincentive to investing in 
                new, clean, and efficient generating technologies;
            (4) fossil fuel-fired powerplants, consisting of plants 
        fueled by coal, fuel oil, and natural gas, produce nearly two-
        thirds of the electricity generated in the United States;
            (5) coal-fired powerplants are the leading source of 
        mercury emissions in the United States, releasing from their 
        smokestacks an estimated 52 tons of this potent neurotoxin each 
        year;
            (6) in 1996, fossil fuel-fired powerplants in the United 
        States produced over 2,000,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the 
        primary greenhouse gas;
            (7) on average--
                    (A) fossil fuel-fired powerplants emit 1,999 pounds 
                of carbon dioxide for every megawatt hour of 
                electricity produced; and
                    (B) coal-fired powerplants emit 2,110 pounds of 
                carbon dioxide for every megawatt hour of electricity 
                produced;
            (8) new fossil-fuel-fired power plants produce over 
        100,000,000 tons per year of fossil-fuel combustion wastes 
        containing hazardous and toxic chemicals, including, but not 
        limited to, mercury, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, 
        nickel, lead, selenium, and vanadium.
            (9) the average fossil fuel-fired generating unit in the 
        United States commenced operation in 1964, 6 years before the 
        Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) was amended to establish 
        requirements for stationary sources;
            (10)(A) according to the Department of Energy, only 23 
        percent of the 1,000 largest emitting units are subject to 
        stringent new source performance standards under section 111 of 
        the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411); and
            (B) the remaining 77 percent, commonly referred to as 
        ``grandfathered'' powerplants, are subject to much less 
        stringent requirements;
            (11) pollution from powerplants can be reduced through 
        adoption of modern technologies and practices, including--
                    (A) methods of combusting coal that are 
                intrinsically more efficient and less polluting, such 
                as pressurized fluidized bed combustion and an 
                integrated gasification combined cycle system;
                    (B) methods of combusting cleaner fuels, such as 
                gases from fossil and biological resources and combined 
                cycle turbines;
                    (C) treating flue gases through application of 
                pollution controls;
                    (D) methods for managing and disposing of fossil-
                fuel combustion wastes reflecting the hazardous nature 
                of their components;
                    (E) methods of extracting energy from natural, 
                renewable resources of energy, such as solar and wind 
                sources;
                    (F) methods of producing electricity and thermal 
                energy from fuels without conventional combustion, such 
                as fuel cells; and
                    (G) combined heat and power methods of extracting 
                and using heat that would otherwise be wasted, for the 
                purpose of heating or cooling office buildings, 
                providing steam to processing facilities, or otherwise 
                increasing total efficiency;
            (12) adopting the technologies and practices described in 
        paragraph (17) would increase competitiveness and productivity, 
        secure employment, save lives, and preserve the future.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to protect and preserve the environment while 
        safeguarding health by ensuring that each fossil fuel-fired 
        generating unit minimizes pollution to levels that are 
        technologically feasible through modernization and application 
        of pollution controls;
            (2) to greatly reduce the quantities of mercury (and other 
        hazardous and toxic chemicals), carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, 
        and nitrogen oxides entering the environment from combustion of 
        fossil fuels;
            (3) to eliminate the ``grandfather'' loophole in the Clean 
        Air Act relating to sources in operation before the 
        promulgation of standards under section 111 of that Act (42 
        U.S.C. 7411);
            (4) to decrease significantly the threat to human health 
        and the environment posed by mercury and other hazardous 
        chemicals resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels;
            (5) to provide worker retraining for workers adversely 
        affected by reduced consumption of coal;
            (6) to provide economic development incentives for 
        communities adversely affected by reduced consumption of coal; 
        and
            (7) to provide property tax relief for communities whose 
        tax base is significantly affected by any resulting plant 
        retirements.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
            (2) Generating unit.--The term ``generating unit'' means an 
        electric utility generating facility with a nameplate capacity 
        of 15 megawatts or greater that uses a combustion device 
        primarily to generate electricity for sale.

SEC. 4. AIR EMISSION STANDARDS FOR FOSSIL FUEL-FIRED GENERATING UNITS.

    Section 111 of the Clean Air Act is amended by adding the following 
new subsection at the end thereof:
    ``(k) Emission Rates for Certain Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric 
Generating Units.--
            ``(1) In general.--In addition to other requirements 
        applicable under this section to such units, emissions of air 
        pollutants from each fossil fuel-fired electric generating unit 
        that is a new source or an existing source for purposes of this 
        section shall not exceed the following:
                    ``(A) Mercury.--Mercury emissions shall not exceed 
                30 percent of the mercury otherwise present in the flue 
                gas. Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
                of this subsection, the Administrator, in consultation 
                with the Secretary of Energy, shall promulgate methods 
                for determining initial and continuing compliance with 
                this subparagraph and fuel sampling techniques and 
                emission monitoring techniques for use by generating 
                units in calculating mercury emission reductions for 
                the purposes of this subparagraph.
                    ``(B) Sulfur dioxide.--Sulfur dioxide emissions 
                shall not exceed 3.0 pounds per megawatt hour and total 
                annual sulfur dioxide emissions shall not exceed 3.0 
                pounds multiplied by the average megawatt hours 
                generated by the unit in the calendar years 1996 
                through 1998.
                    ``(C) Nitrogen oxides.--Nitrogen oxide emissions 
                shall not exceed 1.5 pounds per megawatt hour and total 
                annual emissions of nitrogen oxides shall not exceed 
                1.5 pounds multiplied by the average annual 
megawatt hours generated by the unit in the calendar years 1996 through 
1998.
            ``(2) Reporting.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not less than often than 
                quarterly, the owner or operator of each electric 
                utility generating unit shall submit a pollutant-
                specific emission report for each pollutant covered by 
                this subsection and for carbon dioxide.
                    ``(B) Signature.--Each report required under 
                subparagraph (A) shall be signed by a responsible 
                official of the generating unit, who shall certify the 
                accuracy of the report.
                    ``(C) Public reporting.--The Administrator shall 
                annually make available to the public, through 1 or 
                more published reports and 1 or more forms of 
                electronic media, facility-specific emission data for 
                each generating unit and pollutant covered by this 
                subsection and for carbon dioxide.
                    ``(D) Consumer disclosure.--Not later than 2 years 
                after the date of enactment of this subsection, the 
                Administrator shall promulgate regulations requiring 
                each owner or operator of each electric utility 
                generating unit to disclose to residential consumers of 
                electricity generated by the unit, on a regular basis 
                (but not less often than annually) and in a manner 
                convenient to the consumers, data concerning the level 
                of emissions by the generating unit of carbon dioxide 
                and each pollutant covered by this section.
            ``(3) Effective date.--This subsection shall take effect on 
        January 1, 2005, and on that date each unit covered by this 
        subsection shall be required to have a permit issued under 
        title V that requires compliance with this subsection.''.

SEC. 5. TONNAGE CAP FOR CARBON DIOXIDE.

    (a) Generation Performance Standard.--For each calendar year 
beginning after December 31, 2004, the Administrator shall calculate a 
generation performance standard for carbon dioxide from covered fossil 
fuel fired electric generating units. The standard shall be equal to 
1.914 billion tons divided by the Commission's estimate (under this 
section) of total electric generation from all such units during that 
year. The Administrator shall publish such standard (expressed in 
pounds per megawatt hour) at least 30 days prior to the beginning of 
the calendar year concerned. For purposes of this section, the term 
``covered fossil fuel fired electric generating unit'' means a fossil 
fuel fired electric generating unit with an electric generation 
capacity greater than 50 megawatts.
    (b) Allocation and Trading of Allowances.--
            (1) In general.--For each calendar year beginning after 
        December 31, 2004, the Administrator shall allocate allowances 
        for carbon dioxide among covered fossil fuel-fired electric 
        generating units by multiplying the generation performance 
        standard for that calendar year by each unit's electric 
        generation during the calendar year.
            (2) Carryover and trading of allowances.--Allowances 
        allocated to any unit for any calendar year that are not used 
        to demonstrate compliance with subsection (c) for that calendar 
        year may be retained and used to demonstrate compliance with 
        such requirements by any person in a subsequent calendar year. 
        Such allowances may be transferred from the unit to which 
        allocated to any other unit. Any person to whom such allowances 
        have been transferred may use the allowances in the calendar 
        year or in a subsequent calendar year to demonstrate compliance 
        with this section or may transfer such allowances to any other 
        person for such purposes.
    (c) Compliance With Allowance Limits.--For each calendar year 
beginning after December 31, 2004, the owner or operator of each 
covered fossil fuel-fired electric generating unit shall surrender to 
the Administrator a number of allowances for carbon dioxide equal to 
the total tonnage of carbon dioxide emitted by that unit during the 
calendar year. Emissions shall be determined based on continuous 
monitoring approved by the Administrator. The Administrator may permit 
the average rate of emissions from a covered fossil fuel-fired electric 
generating unit over any calendar year to exceed the generation 
performance standard if the generating plant has a sufficient quantity 
of emissions credits.
    (d) Excess Emissions.--The owner or operator of any covered fossil 
fuel-fired electric generating unit that emits carbon dioxide in any 
calendar year in excess of the allowances for such air pollutant that 
the owner or operator holds for use for the unit for the calendar year 
shall be liable for the payment of an excess emissions penalty, and 
shall be liable to offset the excess emissions by an equal tonnage 
amount of such air pollutant in the following calendar year or such 
other period as the Administrator shall prescribe. The excess emissions 
penalty shall be calculated on the basis of the number of tons emitted 
in excess of the total number of allowances held, multiplied by $100, 
indexed by inflation under rules promulgated by the Administrator. 
Excess emissions penalties and offsets shall be determined and 
administered in accordance with regulations to be promulgated by the 
Administrator within 6 months after the enactment of this section. The 
failure or refusal of any person to pay the full amount of any excess 
emission penalty imposed under this section shall be punishable by a 
fine of $10,000 for each day during which such failure or refusal 
continues.
    (e) Estimate of Electric Generation.--For each calendar year 
beginning after December 31, 2004, the Administrator shall publish the 
Administrator's estimate of the total electric generation by covered 
fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. Such estimate shall be 
computed based on total electric energy generation from all covered 
fossil fuel-fired electric generating units during the current year or 
calendar year plus the projected growth (as determined by the Secretary 
of Energy) in electric energy generation and expected verifiable 
electric energy conservation for the calendar year. The Administrator 
shall publish such estimate at least 30 days prior to the beginning of 
the applicable period for which the estimate is made.

SEC. 6. DISPOSAL OF MERCURY AND OTHER HAZARDOUS WASTES.

    (a) Captured or Recovered Mercury.--Not later than 2 years after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall promulgate 
regulations under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act and other 
applicable provisions of law to ensure that mercury or other hazardous 
wastes captured or recovered through the use of an emission control 
method, or coal cleaning, or another process associated with the 
combustion of fossil fuels for the generation of electricity is 
disposed of in a manner that ensures that--
            (1) the hazards from mercury or other hazardous waste are 
        not transferred from one environmental medium to another; and
            (2) there is no release of mercury or other hazardous waste 
        into the environment.
    (b) Sludges and Wastes Containing Mercury or Other Hazardous 
Wastes.--The regulations promulgated by the Administrator under 
subsection (a) shall ensure that sludges and wastes containing mercury 
or other hazardous wastes are handled and disposed of in accordance 
with all applicable Federal and State laws (including regulations).
    (c) Section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act is amended by 
repealing paragraph (3)(A) of subsection (b) to the extent it affects 
wastes generated from the combustion of coal or other fossil fuels in a 
generating unit.

SEC. 7. RECOGNITION OF PERMANENT EMISSION REDUCTIONS IN FUTURE CLIMATE 
              CHANGE IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) permanent reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and 
        nitrogen oxides that are accomplished through the retirement of 
        old generating units and replacement by new generating units 
        that meet the emission standards specified in this Act, or 
        through replacement of old generating units with nonpolluting 
        renewable power generation technologies, should be credited to 
        the utility sector, and to the owner or operator that retires 
        or replaces the old generating unit, in any climate change 
        implementation program enacted by Congress;
            (2) the base year for calculating reductions under a 
        program described in paragraph (1) should be the calendar year 
        preceding the calendar year in which this Act is enacted; and
            (3) a reasonable portion of any monetary value that may 
        accrue from the crediting described in paragraph (1) should be 
        passed on to utility customers.

SEC. 8. EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS ACT AND OTHER STATUTES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Chairman 
of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Administrator, 
shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this Act.
    (b) Identification of Conflicting Law.--The report shall identify 
any provision of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-486), 
the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 
791 et seq.), the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 
U.S.C. 2601 et seq.), the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 
1978 (42 U.S.C. 8301 et seq.), or the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 
U.S.C 6901 et seq.), or the amendments made by those Acts, that 
conflicts with the intent or efficient implementation of this Act.
    (c) Recommendations.--The report shall include recommendations from 
the Secretary of Energy, the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Administrator, and the Administrator for legislative or administrative 
measures to harmonize and streamline the statutes specified in 
subsection (b) and the regulations implementing those statutes.

SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE FOR WORKERS ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY REDUCED 
              CONSUMPTION OF COAL.

    In addition to amounts made available under any other law, there is 
authorized to be appropriated $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 
through 2015 to provide assistance, under the economic dislocation and 
worker adjustment assistance program of the Department of Labor 
authorized by title III of the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 
1651 et seq.), to coal and oil industry workers who are terminated from 
employment as a result of reduced consumption of oil and coal by the 
electric power generation industry.

SEC. 10. COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES FOR COMMUNITIES 
              ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY REDUCED CONSUMPTION OF COAL.

    In addition to amounts made available under any other law, there is 
authorized to be appropriated $75,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 
through 2015 to provide assistance, under the economic adjustment 
program of the Department of Commerce authorized by the Public Works 
and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3121 et seq.), to 
assist communities adversely affected by reduced consumption of coal by 
the electric power generation industry.

SEC. 11. CARBON SEQUESTRATION.

    (a) Carbon Sequestration Strategy.--In addition to amounts made 
available under any other law, there is authorized to be appropriated 
to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy for 
each of fiscal years 2001 through 2003 a total of $15,000,000 to 
conduct research and development activities in basic and applied 
science in support of development by September 30, 2003, of a carbon 
sequestration strategy that is designed to offset all growth in carbon 
dioxide emissions in the United States after 2010.
    (b) Methods for Biologically Sequestering Carbon Dioxide.--In 
addition to amounts made available under any other law, there is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Environmental Protection Agency 
and the Department of Agriculture for each of fiscal years 2001 through 
2010 a total of $30,000,000 to carry out soil restoration, tree 
planting, wetland protection, and other methods of biologically 
sequestering carbon dioxide.

SEC. 12. PROPERTY TAX RELIEF.

    The Administrator shall make grants to each municipality in which 
there is located one or more fossil fuel fired electric generating 
units that--
            (1) provide 20 percent or more of the municipality's annual 
        property tax revenue in the municipality's last fiscal year 
        ending before the enactment of this Act, and
            (2) cease operation after the enactment of this Act.
Such grants shall be made only for the 3 taxable years following the 
year in which the unit ceases operation and shall not exceed 50 percent 
of the total real property taxes paid to such municipalities by the 
owners or operators of such units in the taxable year prior to the 
taxable year in which the unit ceased operation.

SEC. 13. HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FROM ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM 
              GENERATING UNITS.

    Section 112 of the Clean Air Act is amended as follows:
            (1) By repealing the last sentence of section 112(n)(1)(A).
            (2) By amending paragraph (1) of subsection (c) by 
        inserting after the first sentence the following: ``Within 12 
        months after the enactment of the Clean Power Plant Act of 
        1999, such list shall be revised to include electric utility 
        steam generating units.''.
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