I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3797 

To establish the bases by which the Administrator of the Environmental 

Protection Agency shall issue, implement, and enforce certain emission 

limitations and allocations for existing electric utility steam generating 

units that convert coal refuse into energy. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 22, 2015 

Mr. ROTHFUS (for himself, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, 

and Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To establish the bases by which the Administrator of the 

Environmental Protection Agency shall issue, implement, 

and enforce certain emission limitations and allocations 

for existing electric utility steam generating units that 

convert coal refuse into energy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Satisfying Energy 

5 Needs and Saving the Environment Act’’ or the ‘‘SENSE 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STANDARDS FOR COAL REFUSE POWER PLANTS. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

3 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis4 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ5 mental Protection Agency. 

6 (2) BOILER OPERATING DAY.—The term ‘‘boiler 

7 operating day’’ has the meaning given such term in 

8 section 63.10042 of title 40, Code of Federal Regu9 lations, or any successor regulation. 

10 (3) COAL REFUSE.—The term ‘‘coal refuse’’ 

11 means any byproduct of coal mining, physical coal 

12 cleaning, or coal preparation operation that contains 

13 coal, matrix material, clay, and other organic and in14 organic material. 

15 (4) COAL REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM

16 GENERATING UNIT.—The term ‘‘coal refuse electric 

17 utility steam generating unit’’ means an electric util18 ity steam generating unit that— 

19 (A) is in operation as of the date of enact20 ment of this Act; 

21 (B) uses fluidized bed combustion tech22 nology to convert coal refuse into energy; and 

23 (C) uses coal refuse as at least 75 percent 

24 of the annual fuel consumed, by heat input, of 

25 the unit. 


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1 (5) COAL REFUSE-FIRED FACILITY.—The term 

2 ‘‘coal refuse-fired facility’’ means all coal refuse elec3 tric utility steam generating units that are— 

4 (A) located on one or more contiguous or 

5 adjacent properties; 

6 (B) specified within the same Major Group 

7 (2-digit code), as described in the Standard In8 dustrial Classification Manual (1987); and 

9 (C) under common control of the same 

10 person (or persons under common control). 

11 (6) CROSS-STATE AIR POLLUTION RULE.—The 

12 terms ‘‘Cross-State Air Pollution Rule’’ and 

13 ‘‘CSAPR’’ mean the regulatory program promul14 gated by the Administrator to address the interstate 

15 transport of air pollution in parts 51, 52, and 97 of 

16 title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, including any 

17 subsequent or successor regulation. 

18 (7) ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM GENERATING

19 UNIT.—The term ‘‘electric utility steam generating 

20 unit’’ means either or both— 

21 (A) an electric utility steam generating 

22 unit, as such term is defined in section 

23 63.10042 of title 40, Code of Federal Regula24 tions, or any successor regulation; or 


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1 (B) an electricity generating unit or elec2 tric generating unit, as such terms are used in 

3 CSAPR. 

4 (8) PHASE I.—The term ‘‘Phase I’’ means, with 

5 respect to CSAPR, the initial compliance period 

6 under CSAPR, identified for the 2015 and 2016 an7 nual compliance periods. 

8 (b) APPLICATION OF CSAPR TO CERTAIN COAL

9 REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM GENERATING

10 UNITS.— 

11 (1) COAL REFUSE ELECTRIC UTILITY STEAM

12 GENERATING UNITS COMBUSTING BITUMINOUS COAL

13 REFUSE.— 

14 (A) APPLICABILITY.—This paragraph ap15 plies with respect to any coal refuse electric 

16 utility steam generating unit that— 

17 (i) combusts coal refuse derived from 

18 the mining and processing of bituminous 

19 coal; and 

20 (ii) is subject to sulfur dioxide allow21 ance surrender provisions pursuant to 

22 CSAPR. 

23 (B) CONTINUED APPLICABILITY OF PHASE

24 I ALLOWANCE ALLOCATIONS.—In carrying out 

25 CSAPR, the Administrator shall provide that, 


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1 for any compliance period, the allocation 

2 (whether through a Federal implementation 

3 plan or State implementation plan) of sulfur di4 oxide allowances for a coal refuse electric utility 

5 steam generating unit described in subpara6 graph (A) is equivalent to the allocation of the 

7 unit-specific sulfur dioxide allowance allocation 

8 identified for such unit for Phase I, as ref9 erenced in the notice entitled ‘‘Availability of 

10 Data on Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollu11 tion Rule Allowances to Existing Electricity 

12 Generating Units’’ (79 Fed. Reg. 71674 (De13 cember 3, 2014)). 

14 (C) RULES FOR ALLOWANCE ALLOCA15 TIONS.—For any compliance period under 

16 CSAPR that commences on or after January 1, 

17 2017, any sulfur dioxide allowance allocation 

18 provided by the Administrator to a coal refuse 

19 electric utility steam generating unit described 

20 in subparagraph (A)— 

21 (i) shall not be transferable for use by 

22 any other source not located at the same 

23 coal refuse-fired facility as the relevant 

24 coal refuse electric utility steam generating 

25 unit; 


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1 (ii) may be transferable for use by an2 other source located at the same coal 

3 refuse-fired facility as the relevant coal 

4 refuse electric utility steam generating 

5 unit; 

6 (iii) may be banked for application to 

7 compliance obligations in future compli8 ance periods under CSAPR; and 

9 (iv) shall be surrendered upon the 

10 permanent cessation of operation of such 

11 coal refuse electric utility steam generating 

12 unit. 

13 (2) OTHER SOURCES.— 

14 (A) NO INCREASE IN OVERALL STATE

15 BUDGET OF SULFUR DIOXIDE ALLOWANCE AL16 LOCATIONS.—For purposes of paragraph (1), 

17 the Administrator may not, for any compliance 

18 period under CSAPR, increase the total budget 

19 of sulfur dioxide allowance allocations for a 

20 State in which a unit described in paragraph 

21 (1)(A) is located. 

22 (B) COMPLIANCE PERIODS 2017 THROUGH

23 2020.—For any compliance period under 

24 CSAPR that commences on or after January 1, 

25 2017, but before December 31, 2020, the AdVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:47 Oct 23, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3797.IH H3797

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1 ministrator shall carry out subparagraph (A) by 

2 proportionally reducing, as necessary, the unit3 specific sulfur dioxide allowance allocations 

4 from each source that— 

5 (i) is located in a State in which a 

6 unit described in paragraph (1)(A) is lo7 cated; 

8 (ii) permanently ceases operation, or 

9 converts its primary fuel source from coal 

10 to natural gas, prior to the relevant com11 pliance period; and 

12 (iii) otherwise receives an allocation of 

13 sulfur dioxide allowances under CSAPR for 

14 such period. 

15 (c) EMISSION LIMITATIONS TO ADDRESS HYDROGEN

16 CHLORIDE AND SULFUR DIOXIDE AS HAZARDOUS AIR

17 POLLUTANTS.— 

18 (1) APPLICABILITY.—For purposes of regu19 lating emissions of hydrogen chloride or sulfur diox20 ide from a coal refuse electric utility steam gener21 ating unit under section 112 of the Clean Air Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 7412), the Administrator— 

23 (A) shall authorize the operator of such 

24 unit to elect that such unit comply with ei25 ther— 


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1 (i) an emissions standard for emis2 sions of hydrogen chloride that meets the 

3 requirements of paragraph (2); or 

4 (ii) an emission standard for emis5 sions of sulfur dioxide that meets the re6 quirements of paragraph (2); and 

7 (B) may not require that such unit comply 

8 with both an emission standard for emissions of 

9 hydrogen chloride and an emission standard for 

10 emissions of sulfur dioxide. 

11 (2) RULES FOR EMISSION LIMITATIONS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

13 shall require an operator of a coal refuse elec14 tric utility steam generating unit to comply, at 

15 the election of the operator, with no more than 

16 one of the following emission standards: 

17 (i) An emission standard for emissions 

18 of hydrogen chloride from such unit that is 

19 no more stringent than an emission rate of 

20 0.002 pounds per million British thermal 

21 units of heat input. 

22 (ii) An emission standard for emis23 sions of hydrogen chloride from such unit 

24 that is no more stringent than an emission 

25 rate of 0.02 pounds per megawatt-hour. 


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1 (iii) An emission standard for emis2 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

3 is no more stringent than an emission rate 

4 of 0.20 pounds per million British thermal 

5 units of heat input. 

6 (iv) An emission standard for emis7 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

8 is no more stringent than an emission rate 

9 of 1.5 pounds per megawatt-hour. 

10 (v) An emission standard for emis11 sions of sulfur dioxide from such unit that 

12 is no more stringent than capture and con13 trol of 93 percent of sulfur dioxide across 

14 the generating unit or group of generating 

15 units, as determined by comparing— 

16 (I) the expected sulfur dioxide 

17 generated from combustion of fuels 

18 emissions calculated based upon as19 fired fuel samples; to 

20 (II) the actual sulfur dioxide 

21 emissions as measured by a sulfur di22 oxide continuous emission monitoring 

23 system. 

24 (B) MEASUREMENT.—An emission stand25 ard described in subparagraph (A) shall be 


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1 measured as a 30 boiler operating day rolling 

2 average per coal refuse electric utility steam 

3 generating unit or group of coal refuse electric 

4 utility steam generating units located at a sin5 gle coal refuse-fired facility. 

Æ 


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