ENROLLED
       2014 Legislature                                  CS for SM 1174
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                             20141174er
    1  
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to direct the United States
    4         Environmental Protection Agency to use specified
    5         criteria in developing guidelines for regulating
    6         carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil-fueled
    7         electric generating units.
    8  
    9         WHEREAS, a reliable and affordable energy supply is vital
   10  to Florida’s economy and job growth, as well as the overall
   11  interests of its citizens, and
   12         WHEREAS, Florida supports an all-inclusive energy strategy
   13  because it is in the best interest of the state and the nation,
   14  and
   15         WHEREAS, the United States has an abundant supply of coal
   16  that provides economic and energy security benefits, including
   17  affordable and reliable electricity, and
   18         WHEREAS, carbon regulations for existing coal-fueled
   19  electric generating units could threaten the affordability and
   20  reliability of Florida’s electricity supplies, and
   21         WHEREAS, such regulations impose additional financial
   22  burdens on electric generating units that have invested in
   23  pollution controls to meet the recent mercury regulations of the
   24  United States Environmental Protection Agency, and
   25         WHEREAS, such burdens risk the closure of electric
   26  generating units resulting in substantial job loss, and
   27         WHEREAS, carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fueled electric
   28  generating units in the United States represent only 3 percent
   29  of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and
   30         WHEREAS, the United States Energy Information
   31  Administration projects that carbon dioxide emissions from the
   32  nation’s electric sector will be 14 percent below 2005 levels in
   33  2020, and
   34         WHEREAS, the United States Energy Information
   35  Administration projects that carbon dioxide emissions from the
   36  nation’s coal-fueled electric generating units will be 19
   37  percent below 2005 levels in 2020, and
   38         WHEREAS, on June 25, 2013, the President of the United
   39  States directed the United States Environmental Protection
   40  Agency to issue standards, regulations, and guidelines to
   41  address carbon dioxide emissions from new, existing, modified,
   42  and reconstructed fossil-fueled electric generating units, and
   43         WHEREAS, the President of the United States has recognized
   44  that states will play a central role in establishing and
   45  implementing carbon standards for existing electric generating
   46  units, and
   47         WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act requires the United States
   48  Environmental Protection Agency to establish a procedure under
   49  which each state must develop a plan for establishing and
   50  implementing standards of performance for existing fossil-fueled
   51  electric generating units within the state, and
   52         WHEREAS, the Clean Air Act expressly allows states, in
   53  developing and applying such standards of performance, to take
   54  into consideration, among other factors, the remaining useful
   55  life of an existing fossil-fueled electric generating unit to
   56  which such standards apply, and
   57         WHEREAS, the existing regulations of the United States
   58  Environmental Protection Agency provide that states may adopt
   59  less stringent emissions standards or longer compliance
   60  schedules than the agency’s guidelines based on factors such as
   61  unreasonable cost of control, physical impossibility of
   62  installing necessary control equipment, or other factors that
   63  make less stringent standards or longer compliance times
   64  significantly more reasonable, and
   65         WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of electricity
   66  consumers in Florida to continue to benefit from reliable,
   67  affordable electricity provided by coal-based electric
   68  generating units, NOW, THEREFORE,
   69  
   70  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   71  
   72         That the Congress of the United States is urged to direct
   73  the United States Environmental Protection Agency, in developing
   74  guidelines for regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing
   75  fossil-fueled electric generating units, to:
   76         (1) Respect the primacy of Florida and rely on state
   77  regulators to develop performance standards for carbon dioxide
   78  emissions which take into account the unique policies, energy
   79  needs, resource mix, and economic priorities of the state.
   80         (2) Issue guidelines and approve state-established
   81  performance standards that are based on reductions of carbon
   82  dioxide emissions determined to be achievable by measures
   83  undertaken at fossil-fueled electric generating units.
   84         (3) Allow Florida to set less stringent performance
   85  standards or longer compliance schedules for fossil-fueled
   86  electric generating units.
   87         (4) Give Florida maximum flexibility to implement carbon
   88  dioxide performance standards for fossil-fueled electric
   89  generating units.
   90         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   91  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   92  Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
   93  Agency, to the President of the United States Senate, to the
   94  Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to
   95  each member of the Florida delegation to the United States
   96  Congress.