On November 19, EPA released a policy memo that allows states to rely on energy generated from “waste-derived and certain forest-derived industrial byproduct feedstocks” as tools for compliance with EPA’s proposed existing source performance standards (ESPS) for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The memo announced that EPA will propose a rule exempting waste and “sustainably derived” biomass from best available control technology (BACT) requirements in stationary source permits, and will revise its prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) rules to “include an exemption from the [BACT] requirement for GHGs from waste-derived feedstocks and from non-waste biogenic feedstocks derived from sustainable forest or… Read more
Tag: BACT
EPA Environmental Appeals Board Rejects Challenge to GHG Permit Limits
Sierra Club challenged as insufficient the permit limits for greenhouse gases (GHGs) imposed by EPA in a permit for a new natural gas-fired power plant issued for the La Paloma Energy Center. In re: La Paloma Energy Center. On March 14, EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) rejected Sierra Club’s challenge and affirmed EPA’s use of a menu of GHG permit limits for the permittee to choose from, depending on the turbine model selected by the permittee. Rather than set a single permit limit based upon the best available control technology (BACT), EPA allowed the permittee to choose its GHG limit… Read more