Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000092122-25-000018
Chunk: 3461

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 7
Chunk 3461
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 combustion turbines and combined cycle generation facilities, which requires GHG limits for subcategories of both new and existing units. The new rules do not include standards for existing fossil fuel-fired combustion turbines and combined cycle generation facilities, which have been deferred to a future rulemaking. Requirements for existing coal-fired units are based on technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and natural gas co-firing. States have 24 months after the rule's publication to submit state plans for existing units. The rule allows states to consider remaining useful life and other factors to specify alternative, unit-specific emissions limits and compliance timelines for existing units, as needed to address reliability and other concerns. Existing source compliance will begin as early as January 1, 2030, depending on the subcategory. The final rule incorporates some limited reliability mechanisms including a provision for short-term grid emergencies and a "reliability assurance mechanism" that allows for a one-time, up to one year, extension of existing coal unit retirement dates specified in an approved state plan. The standards for new combustion turbines and combined cycles include subcategories for low, intermediate, and base load operations. Compliance with new source standards begins when the unit comes online, with requirements for CCS beginning on January 1, 2032. The EPA also simultaneously repealed the Affordable Clean Energy rule. Numerous industry groups, electric generators, and states have filed petitions for review challenging the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. A total of eight stay motions were filed seeking a stay of the rule pending judicial review, which were denied by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 19, 2024. On February 5, 2025, the EPA filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit requesting a 60-day abeyance of the challenges so that the new Trump Administration can determine how to proceed with the litigation. On October 16, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court denied emergency stay applications filed by numerous industry groups, electric generators, and states. The ultimate impact of the final rules and associated legal matters cannot be determined at this time; however, it may result in significant compliance costs.

In 2021, the United States officially rejoined the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement establishes a non-binding universal framework for addressing GHG emissions based on nationally determined emissions reduction contributions and sets in place a process for tracking progress towards the goals every five years. On January