The utility companies that operate power plants in Southwestern Indiana say they don’t yet know how a new federal pollution plan will affect their operations.
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama unveiled the final version of the Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent by the year 2030.
The plan is to be implemented in phases starting in 2022, and it’s up to the states to decide how they want to meet plan requirements.
This is the first time that the federal government has put limits on carbon pollution, the EPA says.
The rule is more than 1,500 pages long, and utility companies say they’re still digging into the rule and its implications.
“We will be fully comprehending the rule over the next several weeks,” said Vectren spokeswoman Natalie Hedde. “We take the nation’s focus on reducing carbon emissions very seriously.”
It’s premature to say what impact the rule will have on Vectren’s operations, Hedde said, noting that the utility has made numerous investments to reduce its carbon emissions in recent years.
Southwestern Indiana residents get their electricity from Evansville-based Vectren, whose power plants operate in Warrick and Posey counties.
But the area is also home to several power plants that serve utility customers elsewhere.
North Carolina-based Duke Energy serves 7.3 million electric customers in six Midwest and Southeast states. Its largest power plant is located in Gibson County, and it also has a plant in the Knox County town of Edwardsport.
Indianapolis Power and Light, which has 480,000 electric customers in Central Indiana, has its largest power plant in the Pike County town of Petersburg.
Fort Wayne-based Indiana Michigan Power, a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power, serves just over 587,000 customers in Indiana and Michigan. Its largest power plant is in Rockport, in Spencer County.
Like Vectren, all three of these companies say they are working to understand the Clean Power Plan. A proposed plan was released in June 2014, but the final plan contains some changes from that earlier version.
“It will take quite some time to be able to digest it,” said Duke Energy spokeswoman Paige Sheehan.
“I’ve heard this characterized as one of the biggest rules that would ever impact utilities.”
Indianapolis Power and Light spokeswoman Brandi Davis-Handy said it could take up to a week before IPL’s analysts make their way through the new rule.
As the Clean Power Plan is structured, states will be required to submit a final plan (or an initial submittal with an extension request) by Sept. 6, 2016. All plans are due by Sept. 6, 2018, with mandatory carbon reductions beginning in 2022.
So even after utility companies have read and understood the plan, they won’t be acting on their own, said American Electric Power spokeswoman Melissa McHenry.
“Until we dig into all the details and how it all fits together, it’s too early to say,” McHenry said.
“It won’t be until we have the state plans that we know what the impact will be to an individual (power plant) facility.”
Gov. Mike Pence has voiced his opposition to the Clean Power Plan, saying it hurts Indiana’s economy.
In June, Pence sent a letter to President Obama saying that Indiana would not comply with the Clean Power Plan unless the final plan was “demonstrably and significantly improved” from the proposed plan.
On Monday, Pence said his administration would “carefully review the final rule to determine if the Obama administration was listening.”
In his statement, the governor also said he plans to “vigorously challenge the legality of this rule in the federal courts.”