Environmental Law ReSource : Environmental Lawyer & Attorney : Reed Smith Law Firm : Climate Change, Sustainability

This post was written by David Wagner.

If you missed Reed Smith's Quarterly Report on Climate Change, feel free to listen to an audio recording of the event. In addition, the slideshow presentation is available here. The report covered a lot of information and featured:

• A status report on Congressional action on comprehensive climate regulation;
• A summary of issues regarding the GHG cap-and-trade scheme under AB 32 in California;
• An overview of the legal issues related to carbon capture and storage; and
• A discussion of offset projects in the United States.

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This post was written by David Wagner.

Seeking to gain public and regulator confidence in carbon capture and storage (CCS), in late June two Canadian standards organizations announced plans to develop the first industry-wide standard for the underground storage of captured carbon emissions. CSA Standards, a certification firm, and the International Performance Assessment Centre for Geologic Storage of Carbon Dioxide will work together to develop a CCS standard. The two groups said that the completed standard with technical and safety guidelines will be submitted to the Standards Council of Canada for recognition, and would be the world's first formally recognized CCS standard for underground storage. CSA Standards said that it hoped the new standard would also be used as the basis for an international standard endorsed through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

CCS technology can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and carbon emission-intensive industries, and a formally recognized national or international standard will work to improve public confidence in the safety of the long term storage of carbon dioxide. In particular, a carbon dioxide storage standard would help to ensure risks are identified and then addressed. A standard should also remain flexible to address site-specific characteristics and improvements, especially given that technical CCS expertise is still evolving.

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This post was written by David Wagner.

Indicating growing federal interest in carbon capture and storage, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking public comment on proposals to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from electric power plants in Texas and West Virginia. In a June 2 notice, DOE announced that it intends to prepare an environmental impact statement on a plan to provide about $350 million for the Texas Clean Energy Project, a proposed combined power and chemical plant near Odessa, Texas, through the Clean Coal Power Initiative. The environmental impact statements will help the Department determine whether to provide funding for the project.

According to a another notice published on June 7, DOE intends to produce an environmental impact statement on a plan to provide up to $334 million for a West Virginia plant, about half of the total cost. The West Virginia project involves fitting the existing Mountaineer coal-fired power plant, operated by American Electric Power near New Haven, with carbon dioxide capture and storage. As with the proposed Texas project, the Department would provide funding for the project through the Clean Coal Power Initiative, a program to provide partial financing for new technologies that can help utilities reduce their emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, and greenhouse gases from power plants.

Information on public meetings and comment submission deadlines is available in the notices.

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This post was written by David Wagner.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) recently posted two reports concluding that, with substantive changes to laws governing subsurface ownership rights and long-term liability issues, Pennsylvania’s geology could store carbon dioxide in a cost-competitive and manageable way. The reports also concluded that another key step is to identify specific storage areas.

A carbon capture and storage (CCS) network would collect carbon dioxide from coal-fired electricity generating plants and other industrial sources, compress it into a liquid, and then transport it through pipelines deep underground where it would be injected into the rock formations or other suitable geologic features.

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This post was written by Ariel Nieland.

After much anticipation, Senators Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Kerry (D-Mass.) finally unveiled their comprehensive energy and climate bill, known as the American Power Act, in a press conference yesterday afternoon. The bill's release was delayed by several weeks after prior co-sponsor Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) withdrew his support following a dispute over unrelated immigration reform legislation. Below are some of the bill's key features:

• Aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020 and 83% by 2050, targeting heavy industry, power plants and transportation infrastructure.
• Removes disincentives for natural gas generation at merchant plants in order to level the power sector playing field, and plans to help guide state regulators by requiring public disclosure of chemicals used in natural gas production.
• Places a cap on carbon emissions for producers of more than 25,000 tons of carbon pollution annually, which includes approximately 7,500 U.S. companies. Producers with a mandatory cap may trade carbon credits in the primary market, while the secondary market will be open to all participants. Carbon credits would start at $12 per ton.
• Provides financial incentives for a variety of energy producers, including regulatory risk insurance and loan guarantees for a dozen new nuclear plants; $2 billion a year for coal technologies that can capture and store greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon capture and storage; and $7 billion a year for improvements to transportation infrastructure and efficiency.
• Encourages offshore oil drilling while providing states with veto power over drilling in neighboring states along with the ability to opt out of any drilling within 75 miles of the state's own shoreline. States that oppose drilling could pass laws blocking the activity, while states that choose to drill may retain 37% of federal royalties raised.
• Preempts any state-operated cap-and-trade programs already in existence, and compensates states for any revenue lost as a result.
   

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This post was written by Jennifer Smokelin.

On March 22, 2010, USEPA signed a proposed rule for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from facilities that inject carbon dioxide underground for the purposes of geologic sequestration or enhanced oil and gas recovery. Geologic sequestration is the long-term containment of carbon dioxide in subsurface geologic formations.

USEPA is proposing that all facilities that inject CO2 for the purpose of long-term geologic sequestration or to enhance oil and gas recovery report basic information on CO2 injected underground. In addition, geologic sequestration facilities that inject CO2 specifically for the purpose of long-term containment in subsurface geologic formations would also be required to:

• Develop and implement an USEPA approved site-specific monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) plan.
• Report the amount of CO2 geologically sequestered using a mass balance approach.

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This post was written by Larry Demase and Jennifer Smokelin.

In this article published in The National Law Journal, Reed Smith attorneys and Copenhagen attendees Larry Demase and Jennifer Smokelin discuss outcomes from the United Nations' climate change conference while focusing on what may happen to the domestic energy sector. They emphasize that, despite the questions surrounding international climate negotiations, the Obama administration will continue to push to reinvent the domestic energy sector, if for no reason other than economic stimulus. This push is reinforced by the recent proliferation of "energy security" and "green jobs" bills proposed in Congress. As for changes, they also explain that, during the next 10 to 20 years, we can expect a threefold increase in supply from renewables such as wind and solar. They also look for coal-supplied electricity to trickle off during the next 40 years but, assuming a viable carbon capture and storage program, in the near term significant production of electricity from coal will remain.

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