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This final rule will establish the first new source performance standards for greenhouse gas emissions. This rule will establish carbon dioxide (CO2) emission standards for certain new fossil fuel-fired electric generating units.

Statement of Need: EGU GHG NSPS is the first action item in President Obama's Climate Action Plan (CAP). The CAP called for the EPA to issue a proposal by September 20, 2013 to regulate carbon emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants.

Summary of the Legal Basis: CO2 is a regulated pollutant and this is subject to regulation under section 111 of the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990.

Alternatives: The three alternatives the EPA considered in the BSER analysis for new fossil fuel-fired utility boilers and IGCC units are: (1) highly efficient new generation that does not include CCS technology, (2) highly efficient new generation with ‘‘full capture'' CCS and (3) highly efficient new generation with ‘‘partial capture'' CCS. We considered two alternatives in evaluating the BSER for new fossil fuel-fired stationary combustion turbines: (1) modern, efficient NGCC units and (2) modern, efficient NGCC units with CCS.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: Under a wide range of electricity market conditions - including the EPA's baseline scenario as well as multiple sensitivity analyses - EPA projects that the industry will choose to construct new units that already meet these standards, regardless of this proposal. As a result, the EPA anticipates that the proposed EGU New Source GHG Standards will result in negligible CO2 emission changes, energy impacts, benefits or costs for new units constructed by 2020.

Risks: The risk addressed is the current and future threat of climate change to public health and welfare, as demonstrated in the 2009 Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Finding for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. The EPA made this determination based primarily upon the recent, major assessments by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).