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May 31, 2011

Kevin Culligan

USEPA Headquarters

Ariel Rios Building

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

Mailcode: 6301A

Washington, D.C. 20460

RE: Consultation call on New Source Performance Standards (NSPS’s) for Greenhouse 

Gases (GHG) from Utilities

Dear Kevin:

My name is Joy Wiecks and I am the Air Quality Technician for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa (FdL). Thank you for taking the time to speak with us on the conference call 

held on May 23rd on the above regulatory action. FdL’s Air Coordinator, Alex Jackson, also 

participated on the call. We appreciated the chance to listen to you explain the direction the 

above action is headed and to be able to ask questions. I wanted to put our verbal comments from 

the call in writing and also include some thoughts that have occurred to us since the call.

First, thank you for undertaking this rulemaking. As you know, the utility sector contributes 

about 40% of the greenhouse gases emitted in this country. We see this rulemaking effort as a 

crucial step toward starting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. However, 

the current proposal addresses only those sources agreed to in the related settlement agreement, 

namely fossil fuel-fired boilers at electric generating facilities that: combust more than 250 

million Btu/hour heat input; and sell more than one-third of their potential electric output 

capacity; and supply more than 25 megawatts electric output for sale. FdL supports expanding 

the current proposal to also include turbines from these facilities.

Second, although this point was brought up in the call FdL wants to reiterate the EPA’s 

responsibility to write guidelines for controlling existing sources as part of a Federal 

Implementation Plan, or to assist tribes in making these guidelines part of a Tribal 

Implementation Plan, so that they are enforceable in Indian Country. Additionally, these 

guidelines will probably allow for some discretion by states or tribes when they promulgate rules. 

One item that may be considered when promulgating these guidelines is the remaining useful life 

of the plant. FdL believes that utilities should not be allowed to keep units in use for decades 

beyond their original intent. In order to encourage the retirement of antiquated units, utilities

should not be given leeway in controlling their sources merely because those sources are old and 

the costs of control equipment would be prohibitive. If an affected unit is proposing not to install 
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controls based upon costs or upon the short remaining useful life of the unit, please require permit 

conditions stating that the source must be retired within three years or face substantial compliance 

consequences.

Third, FdL recommends expressing control requirements in an output-based manner (i.e. pounds 

of pollutant per kilowatt produced). This will have the effect of rewarding the most efficient 

units. We also encourage the development of a trading mechanism, with allowances to be 

awarded to early reducers and to electrical sources that use renewable fuels. We believe this 

would be a great opportunity for tribes, many of whom fall into these categories, to either receive 

monetary compensation for their early efforts or to retire these credits. We would also support 

some type of emissions averaging, to allow flexibility for smoother, faster reductions. In the 

name of flexibility, FdL also supports the principal of allowing state programs to be found 

equivalent to the NSPS. We expect such programs to be vetted by the EPA to ensure that they 

are, indeed, credible programs.

FdL would also like to encourage the EPA to extend greenhouse gas NSPS’s to regulate the offgrid, on-site electrical generators operated at numerous facilities. While an action of this sort

may be inappropriate in this rulemaking, please consider it for future rulemakings.

Finally, FdL supports a phased approach to setting emissions standards, such as described in 

Option #4 on page 29 of your slide presentation. We feel this option offers a balance allowing for 

less stringent measures early on, transitioning into more stringent requirements over the long 

term, with an overall emphasis on getting rid of antiquated technology that has outlived its initial 

purpose.

Thank you for this opportunity to participate in the early phases of this rulemaking. We would 

appreciate having another tribal conference call after the rule comes out in draft form. If you 

have any questions, you can reach me at 218-878-7108, or Alex Jackson at 218-878-7112.

Sincerely,

Joy Wiecks

Fond du Lac Air Quality Technician

c.c. Wayne Dupuis – Fond du Lac Environmental Program Director

Dennis Peterson – Fond du Lac Legal Counsel

Darrel Harmon – EPA HQ

Laura McKelvey – EPA OAQPS

Ben Giwojna – EPA Region 5