RCW 80.80.040 Greenhouse gas emissions performance standards—Rules—Sequestration.

(1) Beginning July 1, 2008, the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard for all baseload electric generation for which electric utilities enter into long-term financial commitments on or after such date is the lower of:

(a) One thousand one hundred pounds of greenhouse gases per megawatt-hour; or

(b) The average available greenhouse gas emissions output as determined under RCW 80.80.050.

(2) This chapter does not apply to long-term financial commitments with the Bonneville power administration.

(3)(a) Except as provided in (c) of this subsection, all baseload electric generation facilities in operation as of June 30, 2008, are deemed to be in compliance with the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard established under this section until the facilities are the subject of long-term financial commitments.

(b) All baseload electric generation that commences operation after June 30, 2008, and is located in Washington, must comply with the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard established in subsection (1) of this section.

(c)(i) A coal-fired baseload electric generation facility in Washington that emitted more than one million tons of greenhouse gases in any calendar year prior to 2008 must comply with the lower of the following greenhouse gas emissions performance standard such that one generating boiler is in compliance by December 31, 2020, and any other generating boiler is in compliance by December 31, 2025:

(A) One thousand one hundred pounds of greenhouse gases per megawatt-hour; or

(B) The average available greenhouse gas emissions output as determined under RCW 80.80.050.

(ii) This subsection (3)(c) does not apply to a coal-fired baseload electric generating [generation] facility in the event the department determines as a requirement of state or federal law or regulation that selective catalytic reduction technology must be installed on any of its boilers.

(4) All electric generation facilities or power plants powered exclusively by renewable resources, as defined in RCW 19.280.020, are deemed to be in compliance with the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard established under this section.

(5) All cogeneration facilities in the state that are fueled by natural gas or waste gas or a combination of the two fuels, and that are in operation as of June 30, 2008, are deemed to be in compliance with the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard established under this section until the facilities are the subject of a new ownership interest or are upgraded.

(6) In determining the rate of emissions of greenhouse gases for baseload electric generation, the total emissions associated with producing electricity shall be included.

(7) In no case shall a long-term financial commitment be determined to be in compliance with the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard if the commitment includes more than twelve percent of electricity from unspecified sources.

(8) For a long-term financial commitment with multiple power plants, each specified power plant must be treated individually for the purpose of determining the annualized plant capacity factor and net emissions, and each power plant must comply with subsection (1) of this section, except as provided in subsections (3) through (5) of this section.

(9) The department shall establish an output-based methodology to ensure that the calculation of emissions of greenhouse gases for a cogeneration facility recognizes the total usable energy output of the process, and includes all greenhouse gases emitted by the facility in the production of both electrical and thermal energy. In developing and implementing the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard, the department shall consider and act in a manner consistent with any rules adopted pursuant to the public utilities regulatory policy act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 824a-3), as amended.

(10) The following greenhouse gas emissions produced by baseload electric generation owned or contracted through a long-term financial commitment shall not be counted as emissions of the power plant in determining compliance with the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard:

(a) Those emissions that are injected permanently in geological formations;

(b) Those emissions that are permanently sequestered by other means approved by the department; and

(c) Those emissions sequestered or mitigated as approved under subsection (16) of this section.

(11) In adopting and implementing the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard, the department of commerce energy policy division, in consultation with the commission, the department, the Bonneville power administration, the western electricity coordinating council, the energy facility site evaluation council, electric utilities, public interest representatives, and consumer representatives, shall consider the effects of the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard on system reliability and overall costs to electricity customers.

(12) In developing and implementing the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard, the department shall, with assistance of the commission, the department of commerce energy policy division, and electric utilities, and to the extent practicable, address long-term purchases of electricity from unspecified sources in a manner consistent with this chapter.

(13) The directors of the energy facility site evaluation council and the department shall each adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW in coordination with each other to implement and enforce the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard. The rules necessary to implement this section shall be adopted by June 30, 2008.

(14) In adopting the rules for implementing this section, the energy facility site evaluation council and the department shall include criteria to be applied in evaluating the carbon sequestration plan, for baseload electric generation that will rely on subsection (10) of this section to demonstrate compliance, but that will commence sequestration after the date that electricity is first produced. The rules shall include but not be limited to:

(a) Provisions for financial assurances, as a condition of plant operation, sufficient to ensure successful implementation of the carbon sequestration plan, including construction and operation of necessary equipment, and any other significant costs;

(b) Provisions for geological or other approved sequestration commencing within five years of plant operation, including full and sufficient technical documentation to support the planned sequestration;

(c) Provisions for monitoring the effectiveness of the implementation of the sequestration plan;

(d) Penalties for failure to achieve implementation of the plan on schedule;

(e) Provisions for an owner to purchase emissions reductions in the event of the failure of a sequestration plan under subsection (16) of this section; and

(f) Provisions for public notice and comment on the carbon sequestration plan.

(15)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, as part of its role enforcing the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard, the department shall determine whether sequestration or a plan for sequestration will provide safe, reliable, and permanent protection against the greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere from the power plant and all ancillary facilities.

(b) For facilities under its jurisdiction, the energy facility site evaluation council shall contract for review of sequestration or the carbon sequestration plan with the department consistent with the conditions under (a) of this subsection, consider the adequacy of sequestration or the plan in its adjudicative proceedings conducted under RCW 80.50.090(3), and incorporate specific findings regarding adequacy in its recommendation to the governor under RCW 80.50.100.

(16) A project under consideration by the energy facility site evaluation council by July 22, 2007, is required to include all of the requirements of subsection (14) of this section in its carbon sequestration plan submitted as part of the energy facility site evaluation council process. A project under consideration by the energy facility site evaluation council by July 22, 2007, that receives final site certification agreement approval under chapter 80.50 RCW shall make a good faith effort to implement the sequestration plan. If the project owner determines that implementation is not feasible, the project owner shall submit documentation of that determination to the energy facility site evaluation council. The documentation shall demonstrate the steps taken to implement the sequestration plan and evidence of the technological and economic barriers to successful implementation. The project owner shall then provide to the energy facility site evaluation council notification that they shall implement the plan that requires the project owner to meet the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard by purchasing verifiable greenhouse gas emissions reductions from an electric generation facility located within the western interconnection, where the reduction would not have occurred otherwise or absent this contractual agreement, such that the sum of the emissions reductions purchased and the facility's emissions meets the standard for the life of the facility.

[ 2011 c 180 § 103; 2009 c 448 § 2; 2007 c 307 § 5.]

NOTES:

Findings—Purpose—2011 c 180: See note following RCW 80.80.010.