Dec. 28 is deadline for action: Use Clean Air Act to regulate coal-fired power plants

[Triana]

Earlier this month, President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency issued a formal declaration that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and welfare -- something that the rest of us have known for a long, long time.

The way is cleared for the Clean Air Act to become an crucial weapon in our fight to stop climate change. The Obama administration is now in a position to regulate global warming pollution without having to wait for Congress (which has been lured into writing weak climate policies by industry lobbyists with deep pockets).

I just signed submitted a public comment to the EPA in support of a strong rule to regulate greenhouse gases from coal-fired plants and other big polluters under the Clean Air Act. I hope you will, too. The deadline is Monday, Dec. 28. Please have a look and take action.

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/stationary_sources/?r_by=7165-328532-2DSvkux&rc=confemail1

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1. Fact sheet for proposed rule, and link to send comments to EPA

Fact sheet: http://www.epa.gov/nsr/fs20090930action.html

Send comment to EPA: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a4c6ba

"Under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) portion of NSR—which is a permit program designed to minimize emissions from new sources and existing sources making major modifications—EPA is proposing a:

1. Major stationary source threshold of 25,000 tpy CO2e. This threshold level would be used to determine if a new facility or a major modification at an existing facility would trigger PSD permitting requirements.
2. Significance level between 10,000 and 25,000 tpy CO2e. Existing major sources making modifications that result in an increase of emissions above the significance level would be required to obtain a PSD permit. EPA is requesting comment on a range of values in this proposal, with the intent of selecting a single value for the GHG significance level."

A value of 10,000 tpy CO2e will require nearly all utilities which are expanding operations to obtain a PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) permit.

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2. kick nt