Emissions bill could impact TXU plan: Measure to reduce gases comes as utility seeks 11 coal plants
>>>Well, well, well. It looks like the whole world wants to stop the 11 new TXU coal plants. Texas is growing. Its cold in the winter there right now. Electric demand has to go up. From where will the extra KW come??? Oh. Don't tell me. Not natural gas!!!!!!!<<<
Jan 13 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Elizabeth Souder and Randy Lee Loftis The Dallas Morning News
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators filed a bill Friday that would gradually halve the amount of greenhouse gas emitted by U.S. companies.
If the bill passes -- and similar legislation last session did not -- it could be a hurdle to TXU Corp.'s plan to build 11 coal-fired power plants in Texas.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would establish a system in 2012 of issuing so-called carbon allowances, sort of like currency. Companies could buy, sell and trade the allowances but must have enough to cover their entire carbon emissions.
The government would issue only enough allowances to correspond to 2004 carbon emissions levels and then would gradually cut annual issuance in half during the next few decades.
"I say the global warming debate is over. The American people want action, and they want it now," Mr. Lieberman said in a statement Friday.
The bill's introduction came just days after British researchers predicted that 2007 would be the hottest on record. They said an El Nino pattern in the Pacific Ocean and greenhouse gas emissions were responsible.
Under the new bill, beginning in 2012, each power plant or other factory that emits carbon dioxide would have to hand in allowances for every ton of greenhouse gas it poofs out.
And oil companies would have to account for the carbon dioxide created when their fuel is burned.
The government would first dole out allowances for 6,130 million tons of carbon.
Gradually the government would cut the number of allowances issued each year. By 2050, the number goes down to 2,096 tons.
A company could satisfy the mandate by buying allowances from other companies, buying carbon credits issued by other countries, or capturing and storing carbon emissions underground.
The trading scheme would go into effect just after TXU plans to finish building 11 new coal-fired power plants in Texas.
If state regulators permit TXU to build the plants, the company would boost its carbon dioxide emissions to 94 million tons a year from its current 55 million.
Texas already ranks first in the nation and seventh worldwide in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use, according to the Energy Department.
TXU spokeswoman Kim Morgan declined to comment on the proposed legislation. She said the Dallas power company wants to build the plants to satisfy Texas' growing demand for electricity.
When TXU announced the coal plant plans last April, it promised to cut its total emissions of regulated pollutants by 20 percent. But the company made no mention of carbon dioxide, which isn't regulated.
Some TXU investors have been asking the company for years to consider the financial risk of carbon dioxide regulation.
In 2004, TXU agreed to investor demands to commission a report on the topic. It concluded that the best financial strategy was to continue emitting carbon dioxide and building power plants until regulations come about.
"Efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions now may have the perverse effect of reducing TXU's allocation of carbon dioxide allowances under a mandatory cap-and-trade program," the report states.
More recently, as public concern has grown about the link between carbon and global warming, TXU has announced some projects to look for ways to cut emissions.
TXU invested in a company with technology to capture carbon dioxide and turn it into baking soda. And the company funds various academic research projects to remove or prevent carbon dioxide emissions in coal plants.
The head of TXU coal plant strategy, Mike McCall, said in a recent interview the goal of his carbon strategy is to "keep coal in the game."
Without technology to cut carbon emissions, coal may have a difficult road as a power generation fuel. Coal is the most carbon-intense fuel for making electricity -- nearly 3 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of coal.
TXU operates several coal mines in Texas that supply its four coal plant sites. The company has plans to sell or shut down natural gas plants to focus on coming up with an efficient, inexpensive coal plant design that it can replicate across Texas and the U.S. |
