The United States Department of Energy ("DOE") has issued a report titled "Resource Adequacy Implications of Forthcoming EPA Air Quality Regulations." The DOE report evaluates two United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") regulations: (1) the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule ("CSAPR") and (2) the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards ("MATS").
The DOE report summarized the two rules as follows:
CSAPR creates multiple trading systems to control the emissions of NOx and SO2 from electric generators, and MATS imposes emissions rate standards on coal and oil-fired electric generators for mercury, acid gases and particulate matter. The trading systems for CSAPR begin in 2012, with the limits tightening for sources in some states in 2014. The first year of compliance for MATS is 2015, subject to potential extensions discussed in this report.
DOE concludes that looking at a stringent test case, which was more conservative than actual anticipated conditions, the overall supply-demand balance for electric power would be adequate following the implementation of CSAPR and the proposed MATS rules.
