Florida Senate - 2014 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SM 1174
Ì217776QÎ217776
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RCS .
03/26/2014 .
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(Abruzzo) recommended the following:
1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
2
3 Delete everything after the resolving clause
4 and insert:
5 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
6
7 That the Congress of the United States is urged to direct
8 the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in developing
9 guidelines for regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing
10 fossil-fueled electric generating units, to:
11 (1) Respect the primacy of Florida and rely on state
12 regulators to develop performance standards for carbon dioxide
13 emissions which take into account the unique policies, energy
14 needs, resource mix, and economic priorities of the state.
15 (2) Issue guidelines and approve state-established
16 performance standards that are based on reductions of carbon
17 dioxide emissions determined to be achievable by measures
18 undertaken at fossil-fueled electric generating units.
19 (3) Allow Florida to set less stringent performance
20 standards or longer compliance schedules for fossil-fueled
21 electric generating units.
22 (4) Give Florida maximum flexibility to implement carbon
23 dioxide performance standards for fossil-fueled electric
24 generating units.
25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
26 dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
27 Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
28 Agency, to the President of the United States Senate, to the
29 Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to
30 each member of the Florida delegation to the United States
31 Congress.
32
33
34 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
35 And the title is amended as follows:
36 Delete everything before the resolving clause
37 and insert:
38 Senate Memorial
39 A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
40 urging Congress to direct the United States
41 Environmental Protection Agency to use specified
42 criteria in developing guidelines for regulating
43 carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fueled
44 electric generating units.
45
46 WHEREAS, a reliable and affordable energy supply is vital
47 to Florida’s economy and job growth, as well as the overall
48 interests of its citizens, and
49 WHEREAS, Florida supports an all-inclusive energy strategy
50 because it is in the best interest of the state and the nation,
51 and
52 WHEREAS, the United States has an abundant supply of coal
53 that provides economic and energy security benefits, including
54 affordable and reliable electricity, and
55 WHEREAS, carbon regulations for existing coal-fueled
56 electric generating units could threaten the affordability and
57 reliability of Florida’s electricity supplies, and
58 WHEREAS, such regulations impose additional financial
59 burdens on electric generating units that have invested in
60 pollution controls to meet the recent mercury regulations of the
61 United States Environmental Protection Agency, and
62 WHEREAS, such burdens risk the closure of electric
63 generating units resulting in substantial job loss, and
64 WHEREAS, carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fueled electric
65 generating units in the United States represent only 3 percent
66 of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and
67 WHEREAS, the United States Energy Information
68 Administration projects that carbon dioxide emissions from the
69 nation’s electric sector will be 14 percent below 2005 levels in
70 2020, and
71 WHEREAS, the United States Energy Information
72 Administration projects that carbon dioxide emissions from the
73 nation’s coal-fueled electric generating units will be 19
74 percent below 2005 levels in 2020, and
75 WHEREAS, on June 25, 2013, the President of the United
76 States directed the United States Environmental Protection
77 Agency to issue standards, regulations, and guidelines to
78 address carbon dioxide emissions from new, existing, modified,
79 and reconstructed fossil-fueled electric generating units, and
80 WHEREAS, the President of the United States has recognized
81 that states will play a central role in establishing and
82 implementing carbon standards for existing electric generating
83 units, and
84 WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act requires the United States
85 Environmental Protection Agency to establish a procedure under
86 which each state must develop a plan for establishing and
87 implementing standards of performance for existing fossil-fueled
88 electric generating units within the state, and
89 WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act expressly allows states, in
90 developing and applying such standards of performance, to take
91 into consideration, among other factors, the remaining useful
92 life of an existing fossil-fueled electric generating unit to
93 which such standards apply, and
94 WHEREAS, the existing regulations of the United States
95 Environmental Protection Agency provide that states may adopt
96 less stringent emissions standards or longer compliance
97 schedules than the agency’s guidelines based on factors such as
98 unreasonable cost of control, physical impossibility of
99 installing necessary control equipment, or other factors that
100 make less stringent standards or longer compliance times
101 significantly more reasonable, and
102 WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of electricity
103 consumers in Florida to continue to benefit from reliable,
104 affordable electricity provided by coal-based electric
105 generating units, NOW, THEREFORE,