DEP Seeks Comments for Feasibility Study on Clean Power Plan

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The goal of EPA’s Clean Power Plan for Existing Power Plants is to reduce carbon emissions from power plants, which are the nation’s largest source of such emissions. By 2030, the plan should cut carbon emissions from the power sector 32 percent below 2005 levels.

States may develop their own State Implementation Plans, adopt model state plans developed by the EPA, or have a Federal Implementation Plan imposed.

West Virginia Feasibility Study

During the 2015 Legislative Session, the legislature passed House Bill 2004, requiring DEP to study the feasibility of a state plan.

According to DEP:

This study needs to include an analysis of the potential impact to the state, its people and its economy. The DEP must submit a report detailing the study’s findings to legislators 180 days after finalization of the rule. That 180-day deadline started Oct. 23, the day the plan was published in the federal register. The feasibility study is due to the Legislature by April 20, 2016.

If a state plan is deemed feasible, the next step would be for the WVDEP to draft such a plan and submit it for Legislative approval prior to its submission to the EPA.

DEP is seeking public comments and information that would help with development of the study. Comments will be accepted through December 31, 2015.

Comments/information can be emailed to dep.comments@wv.gov or sent via the mail to:

Clean Power Plan Study Comments
West Virginia DEP
601 57th Street SE
Charleston, WV 25304

What to Say to DEP?

Dr. Jim Kotcon, in working with the Sierra Club West Virginia Chapter, explains more about what DEP is up to in this article.

Helen Gibbins shared these succinct statements, which could help you in making your own comments to DEP:

Climate Change is a global catastrophe on a historic scale that will change the global course of human life. Confronting climate change means trying to reverse the effects of rising tides, protecting us from dangerous extreme weather, and cutting dangerous pollution. The impacts of climate change are costly and harm those who can least afford it the most; our country cannot afford to put off action any longer. Carbon pollution is the number one contributor to climate change and fossil fuel powered electric plants are the largest source of industrial carbon pollution in the U.S. The Clean Power Plan will protect public health, create thousands of efficiency-related jobs, reduce electricity bills for Americans and deliver power reliably.