[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1227 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1227

   To amend the Clean Air Act to establish carbon dioxide new source 
  performance standards for new coal-fired electric generating units.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 26, 2007

   Mr. Kerry introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Clean Air Act to establish carbon dioxide new source 
  performance standards for new coal-fired electric generating units.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Clean Coal Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) fossil fuel-fired power plants are the largest source 
        of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, releasing 
        approximately 2,500,000,000 tons of heat-trapping carbon 
        dioxide in 2004;
            (2) United States power plants are responsible for nearly 
        40 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions of the United 
        States;
            (3) coal power plants are responsible for producing 
        approximately 30 percent of United States annual carbon dioxide 
        emissions;
            (4) according to the National Energy Technology Laboratory 
        of the Department of Energy--
                    (A) over 150 new coal-fired electric generating 
                units are proposed to be constructed in the United 
                States, which would produce 96 gigawatts of new 
                electric generating capacity; and
                    (B) if the units described in subparagraph (A) are 
                constructed, the units would produce--
                            (i) an incremental increase of 500,000,000 
                        tons of carbon dioxide per year from the 
                        production by the power sector in the United 
                        States as in existence on the date of enactment 
                        of this Act; and
                            (ii) an estimated 30,000,000,000 additional 
                        tons of carbon dioxide over the course of the 
                        useful lives of the units;
            (5) once completed, power plants often operate for 50 years 
        or more;
            (6) in August 2006, Xcel Energy announced a project for 
        generating electricity from coal that will use available 
        technology to capture carbon dioxide and store the carbon 
        dioxide underground;
            (7) designing and building power plants to achieve lower 
        carbon dioxide emissions is far less expensive and more 
        efficient than retrofitting conventional power plants that have 
        excessive carbon dioxide emissions;
            (8) on February 26, 2006, the Administrator of the 
        Environmental Protection Agency published final emission 
        standards for new fossil fuel-fired electric utility steam 
        generating units and improperly failed to include emission 
        standards for heat-trapping carbon dioxide;
            (9) in 2006, the Energy Information Administration forecast 
        that annual carbon dioxide pollution from power plants will 
        increase by 1,100,000,000 tons between 2004 and 2030;
            (10) the projected increase in annual carbon dioxide 
        pollution from power plants in 2030 is equivalent to the annual 
        carbon dioxide emissions from 196,000,000 cars;
            (11) global temperatures increased an average of 1.4 
        degrees Fahrenheit during the 21st century, which contribute 
        to--
                    (A) melting glaciers;
                    (B) disappearing species;
                    (C) more extreme weather patterns, including heat 
                waves in 2006 that killed more than 200 Americans, 
                including more than 160 Californians; and
                    (D) more intense hurricanes;
            (12) the temperature of the Earth is now the highest it has 
        been in the past 12,000 years, and is only 1.8 degrees 
        Fahrenheit cooler than the maximum temperature of the past 
        1,000,000 million years; and
            (13) unless significant action is taken today to reduce 
        emissions, the Earth could warm between 5 and 9 degrees 
        Fahrenheit causing the ice sheets to melt, sea levels to rise, 
        and flooding to occur.

SEC. 3. CARBON DIOXIDE NEW SOURCE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR NEW COAL-
              FIRED ELECTRIC GENERATING UNITS.

    Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Carbon Dioxide Standards of Performance for Affected Units.--
            ``(1) Definition of affected unit.--In this subsection, the 
        term `affected unit' means a new coal-fired electric generating 
        unit (including a cogeneration facility) that commences 
        construction on or after April 26, 2007.
            ``(2) Emissions limitation.--Each affected unit shall meet, 
        without interruption throughout the lifetime operation of the 
        affected unit, a standard of performance that, at a minimum, 
        requires the affected unit to produce not more than 285 pounds 
        of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour for supply to the grid.
            ``(3) Revisions.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Not later than January 1, 2012, 
                and every 5 years thereafter, the Administrator shall 
                revise the carbon dioxide standard of performance 
                established under paragraph (2) to reduce the maximum 
                rate of carbon dioxide emissions if a reduced level is 
                achievable through the application of the best 
                technological system of continuous emission reduction 
                demonstrated at the time of the revision.
                    ``(B) Publication.--The revision (or determination 
                that a reduced level is not achievable) shall be 
                published in the Federal Register (after notice and 
                opportunity for public comment) not later than the 
                deadline required, and shall be considered final agency 
                action, under section 307(b)(1).
            ``(4) Injection into geological formations.--Carbon dioxide 
        that is injected into a geological formation in a manner that 
        prevents the release of the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, 
        as determined by the Administrator, shall not be counted as 
        carbon dioxide emissions discharged from an affected unit for 
        purposes of meeting the carbon dioxide standard of performance 
        under this subsection.''.
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