II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1227 

To amend the Clean Air Act to establish carbon dioxide new source 

performance standards for new coal-fired electric generating units. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 26, 2007 

Mr. KERRY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Environment and Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Clean Air Act to establish carbon dioxide 

new source performance standards for new coal-fired 

electric generating units. 

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 ‘‘Clean Coal Act of 

5 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) fossil fuel-fired power plants are the largest 

9 source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United 


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1 States, releasing approximately 2,500,000,000 tons 

2 of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in 2004; 

3 (2) United States power plants are responsible 

4 for nearly 40 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions 

5 of the United States; 

6 (3) coal power plants are responsible for pro7 ducing approximately 30 percent of United States 

8 annual carbon dioxide emissions; 

9 (4) according to the National Energy Tech10 nology Laboratory of the Department of Energy— 

11 (A) over 150 new coal-fired electric gener12 ating units are proposed to be constructed in 

13 the United States, which would produce 96 

14 gigawatts of new electric generating capacity; 

15 and 

16 (B) if the units described in subparagraph 

17 (A) are constructed, the units would produce— 

18 (i) an incremental increase of 

19 500,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide per 

20 year from the production by the power sec21 tor in the United States as in existence on 

22 the date of enactment of this Act; and 

23 (ii) an estimated 30,000,000,000 ad24 ditional tons of carbon dioxide over the 

25 course of the useful lives of the units; 


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1 (5) once completed, power plants often operate 

2 for 50 years or more; 

3 (6) in August 2006, Xcel Energy announced a 

4 project for generating electricity from coal that will 

5 use available technology to capture carbon dioxide 

6 and store the carbon dioxide underground; 

7 (7) designing and building power plants to 

8 achieve lower carbon dioxide emissions is far less ex9 pensive and more efficient than retrofitting conven10 tional power plants that have excessive carbon diox11 ide emissions; 

12 (8) on February 26, 2006, the Administrator of 

13 the Environmental Protection Agency published final 

14 emission standards for new fossil fuel-fired electric 

15 utility steam generating units and improperly failed 

16 to include emission standards for heat-trapping car17 bon dioxide; 

18 (9) in 2006, the Energy Information Adminis19 tration forecast that annual carbon dioxide pollution 

20 from power plants will increase by 1,100,000,000 

21 tons between 2004 and 2030; 

22 (10) the projected increase in annual carbon di23 oxide pollution from power plants in 2030 is equiva24 lent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 

25 196,000,000 cars; 


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1 (11) global temperatures increased an average 

2 of 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit during the 21st century, 

3 which contribute to— 

4 (A) melting glaciers; 

5 (B) disappearing species; 

6 (C) more extreme weather patterns, includ7 ing heat waves in 2006 that killed more than 

8 200 Americans, including more than 160 Cali9 fornians; and 

10 (D) more intense hurricanes; 

11 (12) the temperature of the Earth is now the 

12 highest it has been in the past 12,000 years, and is 

13 only 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the max14 imum temperature of the past 1,000,000 million 

15 years; and 

16 (13) unless significant action is taken today to 

17 reduce emissions, the Earth could warm between 5 

18 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit causing the ice sheets to 

19 melt, sea levels to rise, and flooding to occur. 

20 SEC. 3. CARBON DIOXIDE NEW SOURCE PERFORMANCE 

21 STANDARDS FOR NEW COAL-FIRED ELECTRIC 

22 GENERATING UNITS. 

23 Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7411) 

24 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(k) CARBON DIOXIDE STANDARDS OF PERFORM2 ANCE FOR AFFECTED UNITS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF AFFECTED UNIT.—In this 

4 subsection, the term ‘affected unit’ means a new 

5 coal-fired electric generating unit (including a cogen6 eration facility) that commences construction on or 

7 after April 26, 2007. 

8 ‘‘(2) EMISSIONS LIMITATION.—Each affected 

9 unit shall meet, without interruption throughout the 

10 lifetime operation of the affected unit, a standard of 

11 performance that, at a minimum, requires the af12 fected unit to produce not more than 285 pounds of 

13 carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour for supply to the 

14 grid. 

15 ‘‘(3) REVISIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Janu17 ary 1, 2012, and every 5 years thereafter, the 

18 Administrator shall revise the carbon dioxide 

19 standard of performance established under 

20 paragraph (2) to reduce the maximum rate of 

21 carbon dioxide emissions if a reduced level is 

22 achievable through the application of the best 

23 technological system of continuous emission re24 duction demonstrated at the time of the revi25 sion. 


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1 ‘‘(B) PUBLICATION.—The revision (or de2 termination that a reduced level is not achiev3 able) shall be published in the Federal Register 

4 (after notice and opportunity for public com5 ment) not later than the deadline required, and 

6 shall be considered final agency action, under 

7 section 307(b)(1). 

8 ‘‘(4) INJECTION INTO GEOLOGICAL FORMA9 TIONS.—Carbon dioxide that is injected into a geo10 logical formation in a manner that prevents the re11 lease of the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as 

12 determined by the Administrator, shall not be count13 ed as carbon dioxide emissions discharged from an 

14 affected unit for purposes of meeting the carbon di15 oxide standard of performance under this sub16 section.’’. 

Æ 


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