```

[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 3702-3703]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00659]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 60

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0072; FRL-12547-01-OAR]

New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions 
From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric 
Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From 
Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; and Repeal of the 
Affordable Clean Energy Rule; Final Action

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of final action denying or partially denying petitions 
for reconsideration.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing 
notice that it has responded to two petitions for reconsideration of 
the final action titled, ``New Source Performance Standards for 
Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil 
Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for 
Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric 
Generating Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule'', 
published in the Federal Register on May 9, 2024. The Administrator has 
denied or partially denied the requests for reconsideration in separate 
letters to the petitioners. The basis for the EPA's action is set out 
fully in the accompanying decision document, available in the 
rulemaking docket. At this time, the EPA is not addressing other 
grounds for reconsideration that have been raised by these or other 
petitioners.

DATES: Effective January 15, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Thompson (she/her), Sector 
Policies and Programs Division (D243-02), Office of Air Quality 
Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T.W. 
Alexander Drive, P.O. Box 12055, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 
27711; telephone number: (919) 541-5158; and email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related 
information?

    A copy of this Federal Register notice, the petitions for 
reconsideration, the letters denying the petitions and the accompanying 
decision document describing the full basis for the partial denial of 
these petitions are available in the docket the EPA established under 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0072. In addition, an electronic copy of 
this final action will be available on the internet at https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/greenhouse-gas-standards-and-guidelines-fossil-fuel-fired-power.

II. Judicial Review

    This final action may be challenged in the United States Court of 
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Pursuant to CAA section 
307(b)(1), petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed 
in that court within 60 days after the date notice of this final action 
is published in the Federal Register.
    Section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) governs judicial 
review of final actions by the EPA. This section provides, in part, 
that ``a petition for review of action of the Administrator in 
promulgating . . . any standard of performance or requirement under 
section [111] of [the CAA],'' or ``any other nationally applicable 
regulations promulgated, or final action taken, by the Administrator 
under [the CAA] may be filed only in the United States Court of Appeals 
for the District of Columbia.'' This final action is ``nationally 
applicable'' within the meaning of CAA section 307(b)(1) because it 
denies or partially denies petitions to reconsider the ``New Source 
Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, 
and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; Emission 
Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired 
Electric Generating Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy 
Rule,'' which is a nationally applicable final action promulgating 
standards of performance and requirements under section 111 of the CAA. 
89 FR 39798 (May 9, 2024) (``Carbon Pollution Standards''). This final 
action is nationally applicable because the result of this denial or 
partial denial of the petitions identified herein is that the Carbon 
Pollution Standards remain in place and undisturbed, and because any 
judicial order disturbing the EPA's reasoning herein would affect 
regulated entities throughout the nation.
    Thus, any petitions for review of this final action denying or 
partially denying petitioners' requests for reconsideration must be 
filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia Circuit by March 17, 2025.

III. Description of Action

    On May 9, 2024, pursuant to CAA section 111 of the CAA, the EPA 
published a final action titled ``New Source Performance Standards for 
Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil 
Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for 
Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric 
Generating Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule.'' 89 
FR 39798 (May 9, 2024). Following publication of this final action, the 
Administrator received petitions for reconsideration of certain aspects 
of the Carbon Pollution Standards pursuant to the Administrative 
Procedure Act and Clean Air Act.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ One petitioner (Mountain State Energy Holdings, LLC) cited 
both the APA and CAA as bases for reconsideration and rulemaking; 
the second petitioner (Edison Electric Institute) did not cite any 
specific authority for its request for reconsideration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The EPA carefully reviewed and evaluated each of these issues 
raised in the petitions for reconsideration based on the CAA section 
307(d)(7)(B) criteria for reconsideration, as well as under section 
553(e) of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). For the reasons 
explained below, the EPA is denying, in part or whole, two petitions 
for reconsideration; specifically, the objections raised regarding 
EPA's treatment of grid reliability, financing assertions related to 
new baseload natural gas-fired electric generation units (EGUs), and 
the inclusion of an enforceable backstop emissions rate in conjunction 
with mass-based compliance flexibilities for existing coal-fired steam-
generating EGUs.
    We discuss each of the petitions we are denying or partially 
denying and the basis for those denials in the accompanying decision 
document titled ``The EPA's Basis for Denying, in Part or Whole, 
Petitions for Reconsideration of the New Source Performance Standards 
for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed 
Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units; Emission Guidelines for

[[Page 3703]]

Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Existing Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric 
Generating Units; and Repeal of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule,'' 
available in the rulemaking docket. At this time, the EPA is not 
addressing other grounds for reconsideration that have been raised by 
these or other petitioners.

Jane Nishida,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2025-00659 Filed 1-14-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
```