By Joe Marren, NRDC Alum
A new Bipartisan Policy Center-Great Plains Institute report on the Clean Power Plan aims to prepare states to begin developing their compliance plans by laying out some key considerations and presenting several potential policy pathways to meet the requirements. With the impending issuance of the final Clean Power Plan this summer, “Choosing a Policy Pathway for State 111(d) Plans to Meet State Objectives” begins by summarizing the expected requirements for state plans and then provides a breakdown of state objectives obtained through discussions with states and stakeholders.
One major state objective the report identifies is maintaining electric system reliability. The report suggests that state plans should be flexible in terms of how, where, and when emissions reductions goals are achieved so as to reduce the risk of destabilizing the system by, for example, requiring shutdown of a specific plant necessary to maintain reliability. The report also contends that multi-state collaboration in implementing the Clean Power Plan may boost reliability by extending flexibility across multiple states or throughout an independent system operator (ISO) region.
The report reviews several approaches that offer flexibility for industry while cutting carbon pollution reliably and affordably. Read the full report here.
