WICHITA — Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts have introduced a bill in the Senate, S. 2300, and Mike Pompeo introduced an identical bill, H.R. 4387, in the House to give states more time to comply with EPA emissions reduction standards in the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.
The three say utilities would be given approximately 180 days to comply with the new emissions standards, forcing them to choose between either providing adequate power and facing criminal penalties or cutting power and running afoul of reliability laws. The bills would give states and utilities until January 1, 2017 to comply.
“Under CSAPR, several states like Kansas were given inadequate time to comply with the new emissions standards. Rather than a compliance schedule of five years, like other states, they were only given several months,” Moran said in a statement. “Kansas utilities were already reducing their emissions voluntarily and have agreed to reduce them further – they just need more time to make the appropriate changes. This legislation will support their efforts to reduce emissions, while also preventing a significant disruption of service for millions of consumers.”