Opinion ID: 2586581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Plain Language of the BACT Analysis Requires Consideration of IGCC

Text: ¶ 37 Utah Administrative Code rule 307-101-2 defines the BACT as an emission limitation and/or other controls to include design, equipment, work practice, operation standard or combination thereof, ... which the Air Quality Board, on a case-by-case basis taking into account energy, environmental and economic impacts and other costs determines is achievable for such installation through application of production processes and available methods, systems and techniques, including fuel cleaning or treatment or innovative fuel combustion techniques for control of each such pollutant. ¶ 38 The plain language of this definition indicates that IGCC technology should be evaluated as part of the BACT review. First, the definition indicates that the application of production processes should be considered when determining what the best control technology will be for a proposed facility. Additionally, the definition includes innovative fuel combustion techniques. PacifiCorp argues that fuel combustion is distinct from IGCC, which is a fuel conversion technology. However, we do not interpret combustion as limited to only burning fuels; combustion can also involve a rapid change in a fuel, Webster's II New College Dictionary 223 (1995); a fuel combustion technique could also involve burning the gas created by the fuel. Regardless, IGCC is a production process and therefore falls under the plain language of the rule. Acknowledging that IGCC is a production process, PacifiCorp points to the Board's factual finding that IGCC is a power generation technology, not an emission control technology. Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Final Order, DAQEAN2529001-04, at , ¶ 10 (Jan. 9, 2008). This fact does not exclude IGCC from the BACT review, however. As a power generation technology, IGCC can still act as an emission control technology. The use of IGCC technology can reduce the emission of criteria pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. U.S. Dep't of Energy, Major Environmental Aspects of Gasification-based Generation Technologies ES-2 (2002) http:/www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/ coalpower/gasification/pubs/pdf/ finalënv.pdf. Therefore, we determine it is a control technology. ¶ 39 We also reject the Board's factual finding 11, which implies that control technologies are only those that can be added onto the proposed facility. This factual finding, however, also implies that control technologies are processes and systems that can be designed into a proposed installation. Along the same lines, the Respondents and PacifiCorp vigorously argue that IGCC should not have been part of the BACT review because its adoption could not be designed into the Power Company's proposed facility but would require a redesign. ¶ 40 The notion that a control technology cannot require the redesigning of a facility originates from EPA guidelines, which indicate that the BACT review should not be used as a means to redefine the design of the source. EPA, New Source Review Workshop Manual: Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Nonattainment Area Permitting B.13 (1990). The EPA illustrated the rule by explaining that an applicant proposing a coal-fired electric generator is not required to consider, under BACT review, building a natural gas-fired electric turbine. We agree that changing a fuel source would drastically redesign a proposed facility and therefore production processes that involve a completely different fuel source need not be considered. ¶ 41 IGCC and other production processes are more difficult to analyze where they involve the same fuel source but different forms of production. Several courts have interpreted this guidance and concluded that the design of a facility is redefined when the adoption of a control technology changes the objective or purpose of the facility. See Sierra Club v. EPA, 499 F.3d 653, 657 (7th Cir.2007) (upholding the Environmental Appeals Board's decision that requiring a proposed mine-mouth plant to consider a different fuel source would redefine the `fundamental purpose or basic design of [the] proposed Facility.'); In re: Old Dominion Elec. Coop., 3 E.A.D. 779, 793 n. 38 (1992) (EPA does not require a PSD applicant to change the fundamental scope of its project.). Deciphering which control strategies would result in the redefinition of a proposed facility requires a case-by-case analysis in which the difference between the strategies accepted and those rejected is often a matter of degree. For example, a proposed waste combustion facility was not required to consider as part of its BACT analysis disposing of the waste by burning in existing electricity-generating facilities. In re: Pensauken County Res. Recovery Facility, 2 E.A.D. 667 (1988). The adoption of this alternative process would not only redefine the proposed facility but would negate the need for the waste combustion facility altogether. In comparison, the use of clean fuels, a control strategy identified by the BACT definition, presents a closer question. The Seventh Circuit recently determined that a mine-mouth electricity plant was not required to consider the use of clean, Western coal as a control technology in its BACT analysis. Sierra Club, 499 F.3d at 656-57. Exploring the scope of the redefinition test, the court acknowledged that a stand alone coal-fired electricity plant would be required to consider clean coal as part of BACT, even though [s]ome adjustment in the design of the plant would be necessary. Id. at 656. In contrast, the court determined that because the proposed electricity plant was a mine-mouth power plant, the use of [the] particular coal supply [was] an inherent aspect of the proposed project and requiring clean coal would excise this aspect from the project. Id. (citing In re Prairie State Generating Co., 189808AAB, 2006 EPA App. LEXIS 38, at  (EAB Aug. 24, 2006)). ¶ 42 As illustrated by the Illinois mine-mouth cases, the purpose of a proposed facility is determined by the description in the application submitted for the proposed facility, so long as the purpose or design is objectively discernable. Prairie State, 2006 EPA App. LEXIS 38, at . In the Seventh Circuit case, the applicants proposed to build a mine mouth power plant, and that description guided the permit issuers' demarcation of what technologies would require a redefinition of the design of the proposed facility. We emphasize that the purpose of the project must be objective and must focus on the overall business purpose for the proposed facility. We are wary of the risk of applicants describing a project in such a limited manner that they are able to circumvent the goals of BACT, which include encouraging the use of new technologies. See In re: Knauf Fiber Glass, GmbH, 8 E.A.D. 121, 127 (1999) ([T]he purpose of BACT ... is to promote use of the best control technologies as widely as possible. If a company can claim that the only facilities similar to a proposed project are its own facilities, this objective of the BACT program would not be fulfilled.). Thus, when considering what design elements are inherent to the project, cost and avoidance of the risks associated with adopting new technologies cannot support what is considered fundamental to a project's design. Prairie State, 2006 EPA App. LEXIS 38, at  n. 23. Instead, the fundamental aspects must relate to the basic business purpose of the proposed facility. ¶ 43 Applying our holding to the facts of this case, we conclude that considering IGCC would not require the Power Company to redefine the design of its proposed facility. Like the plant in Prairie State/Sierra Club, the basic design of the Power Company's proposed facility is an electric power generating plant fueled by coal. With this purpose, it is evident that the Power Company was not required to consider wind generation for electric power as an alternative process. However, as in the Prairie State BACT analysis, Prairie State, 2006 EPA App. LEXIS 38, at  68-71, the Power Company should have included IGCC in its BACT review. IGCC is a control technology that can reduce the emissions of several criteria pollutants. The adoption of this standard would not require the Power Company to redefine the design of its proposed facility. The facility would still remain an electric power generating plant fueled by coal. We note that the consideration of IGCC in the BACT review does not compel its adoption; instead, it only requires the Power Company to subject IGCC to the five-step top down analysis used to determine the best available technology.