Company: SOJE
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000092122-25-000018
Chunk: 312

Company: SOUTHERN CO
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 6
Chunk 312
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 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 The EPA also simultaneously repealed the Affordable Clean Energy rule.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 20, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and revoke commitments made by the United States under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Additional GHG policies, including legislation, may emerge in the future requiring the United States to accelerate its transition to a lower GHG emitting economy; however, associated impacts are currently unknown. The Southern Company system has transitioned from an electric generating mix of 70% coal, 15% natural gas, and 14% nuclear in 2007 to a mix of 18% coal, 52% natural gas, and 20% nuclear in 2024. This transition has been supported in part by the Southern Company system retiring over 6,700 MWs of coal-fired generating capacity since 2010 and converting 3,700 MWs of generating capacity from coal to natural gas since 2015, as