The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced this week that it has formally asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to extend the public comment period by 90 days in order to allow for a full understanding of the potential impact of the rule.

 

 “Our review to date has revealed that the rule will have a significant impact on electric power providers and rate payers,” DENR Secretary John Skvarla’s letter states. “We believe the proposal creates a regulatory scheme that affects all aspects of how electricity is generated, dispatched, and used by businesses and consumers while creating a new EPA oversight of every state and local authority involved in these complex issues. EPA’s current comment period deadline of October 16, 2014, simply does not provide sufficient time to understand this far-reaching and complex proposal.”

 

DENR also has concerns about the legality of the proposed rule, he said, and extending the comment period would provide the state more time to understand and verify the assumptions and calculations that the EPA used to establish carbon reduction goals for North Carolina. 

 

The complete text of Skvarla’s letter and other related information can be viewed at this page on the DAQ website: http://www.ncair.org/rules/EGUs/.