The Intersection of Climate Change and Clean Air Act Stationary Source Programs

This article deals with Clean Air Act (CAA) legal developments since mid-2010 relating to the control of greenhouse gases (GHGs). It briefly covers federal domestic legislative proposals and then focuses on the regulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) based on the Clean Air Act. It covers GHG reporting requirements, CO2 as a criteria pollutant, construction and operating permits, new source performance standards, hazardous pollutant standards, and interstate transport. It also covers the use of the CAA to prevent the construction and operation of coal-fired electric power plants by increasing the cost of generating electricity due to increasingly stringent air pollution control requirements imposed on traditional air pollutants. It concludes that because Congress appears incapable of developing an energy policy that protects both the environment and the economy, EPA will continue its efforts to use the CAA to make coal too expensive to burn