Florida Senate - 2014 CS for SM 1174
By the Committee on Environmental Preservation and Conservation;
and Senator Gibson
592-03287-14 20141174c1
1 Senate Memorial
2 A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
3 urging Congress to direct the United States
4 Environmental Protection Agency to use specified
5 criteria in developing guidelines for regulating
6 carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fueled
7 electric generating units.
8
9 WHEREAS, a reliable and affordable energy supply is vital
10 to Florida’s economy and job growth, as well as the overall
11 interests of its citizens, and
12 WHEREAS, Florida supports an all-inclusive energy strategy
13 because it is in the best interest of the state and the nation,
14 and
15 WHEREAS, the United States has an abundant supply of coal
16 that provides economic and energy security benefits, including
17 affordable and reliable electricity, and
18 WHEREAS, carbon regulations for existing coal-fueled
19 electric generating units could threaten the affordability and
20 reliability of Florida’s electricity supplies, and
21 WHEREAS, such regulations impose additional financial
22 burdens on electric generating units that have invested in
23 pollution controls to meet the recent mercury regulations of the
24 United States Environmental Protection Agency, and
25 WHEREAS, such burdens risk the closure of electric
26 generating units resulting in substantial job loss, and
27 WHEREAS, carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fueled electric
28 generating units in the United States represent only 3 percent
29 of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and
30 WHEREAS, the United States Energy Information
31 Administration projects that carbon dioxide emissions from the
32 nation’s electric sector will be 14 percent below 2005 levels in
33 2020, and
34 WHEREAS, the United States Energy Information
35 Administration projects that carbon dioxide emissions from the
36 nation’s coal-fueled electric generating units will be 19
37 percent below 2005 levels in 2020, and
38 WHEREAS, on June 25, 2013, the President of the United
39 States directed the United States Environmental Protection
40 Agency to issue standards, regulations, and guidelines to
41 address carbon dioxide emissions from new, existing, modified,
42 and reconstructed fossil-fueled electric generating units, and
43 WHEREAS, the President of the United States has recognized
44 that states will play a central role in establishing and
45 implementing carbon standards for existing electric generating
46 units, and
47 WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act requires the United States
48 Environmental Protection Agency to establish a procedure under
49 which each state must develop a plan for establishing and
50 implementing standards of performance for existing fossil-fueled
51 electric generating units within the state, and
52 WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act expressly allows states, in
53 developing and applying such standards of performance, to take
54 into consideration, among other factors, the remaining useful
55 life of an existing fossil-fueled electric generating unit to
56 which such standards apply, and
57 WHEREAS, the existing regulations of the United States
58 Environmental Protection Agency provide that states may adopt
59 less stringent emissions standards or longer compliance
60 schedules than the agency’s guidelines based on factors such as
61 unreasonable cost of control, physical impossibility of
62 installing necessary control equipment, or other factors that
63 make less stringent standards or longer compliance times
64 significantly more reasonable, and
65 WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of electricity
66 consumers in Florida to continue to benefit from reliable,
67 affordable electricity provided by coal-based electric
68 generating units, NOW, THEREFORE,
69
70 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
71
72 That the Congress of the United States is urged to direct
73 the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in developing
74 guidelines for regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing
75 fossil-fueled electric generating units, to:
76 (1) Respect the primacy of Florida and rely on state
77 regulators to develop performance standards for carbon dioxide
78 emissions which take into account the unique policies, energy
79 needs, resource mix, and economic priorities of the state.
80 (2) Issue guidelines and approve state-established
81 performance standards that are based on reductions of carbon
82 dioxide emissions determined to be achievable by measures
83 undertaken at fossil-fueled electric generating units.
84 (3) Allow Florida to set less stringent performance
85 standards or longer compliance schedules for fossil-fueled
86 electric generating units.
87 (4) Give Florida maximum flexibility to implement carbon
88 dioxide performance standards for fossil-fueled electric
89 generating units.
90 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
91 dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
92 Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
93 Agency, to the President of the United States Senate, to the
94 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to
95 each member of the Florida delegation to the United States
96 Congress.