§7651h Repowered sources

Summary

Allows owners of certain existing power units to get more time to meet emissions limits if they plan to repower the unit with a qualifying clean coal technology. The owner must prove to the permitting authority by December 31, 1997 that repowering will happen, and by January 1, 2000 must give a preliminary design and engineering report and a signed, binding contract for most of the equipment, plus any other information the Administrator requires. Replacing an old unit with a new unit at a different site counts as repowering if the owner names the new unit as the replacement and the old unit is retired by the date the new unit begins commercial operation. If approved, the compliance deadline moves from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2003 and the permit will show the new schedule. If the chosen technology is built and tested but still cannot meet the limits and is infeasible, the owner may install another clean coal or other available control technology. While the extension lasts, the Administrator will give the unit annual sulfur dioxide allowances equal to the unit’s baseline times the lesser of the unit’s State Implementation Plan limit or its actual 1995 emission rate; those allowances cannot be used by other sources. The owner must notify the Administrator 60 days before taking the unit out of service to install repowering. On that removal date the unit becomes subject to the regular rules, and that year’s allowances are baseline × 1.20 lbs/mmBtu ÷ 2,000, prorated and transferable. After repowering, yearly allowances equal baseline × 1.20 lbs/mmBtu ÷ 2,000. If a replacement unit at a different site is designated, allowances go to the replacement unit instead of the old unit. Units that do not raise hourly emissions for regulated pollutants are not subject to the performance standard under section 7411, but a new replacement unit at a different site cannot get that exemption. States and the Administrator are urged to speed up permits. It is illegal for an owner or operator of a repowered source to ignore these rules or to emit more sulfur dioxide than their allowances allow.