**4.5 United States**

In the United States, the Clean Air Act of 1970, which was substantially amended by Congress in November 1990, with further small alterations since then, entrusts responsibility for CO2 emissions to the Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).

Specifically regarding GHG emissions, in December 2009 the US EPA issued a note indicating it had concluded that the current and projected atmospheric concentrations of GHGs jeopardized current and future public health (US EPA, 2009).

Due to some projections made by the US EPA and the United States Energy Information Administration (US EIA), such as slow growth of electricity demand, low natural gas prices and strong gas supply, the only projects for new coal power plants other than those already under construction are a small number of medium-sized plants subsidized by federal programs for carbon capture and storage. As seen in Figure 15, the projections indicate that the growth of electricity demand of approximately 700 TWh (tera watt hours) between 2015 and 2030 will be almost all met by the entrance into operation of combined cycle natural gas plants, utilizing gas and steam turbines in the same cycle.

Another aspect that can be observed from Figure 15 is that nearly half of the 4.1 million GWh (giga watt hours) forecast for 2015 will be generated by traditional coal-fired plants with turbines driven by steam. As can be observed in Table 3, of the current 1,266 coal power plants in the United States, more than one-third are classified as large, with average capacity of 532 MW (mega watts), which together account for 76% of the energy generated by coal-fired plants.

Based on these projections, in December 2010 the US EPA announced the preparation of rules to cover GHG emissions from power plants that burn fossil fuels and that generate more than 25 MW. The rules will establish performance standards for new emission sources (New Source Performance Standards - NSPS), applicable both to new plants and revamped ones.

Carbon Capture and Storage – Technologies and Risk Management 261

preparation and publicity of environmental impact studies for all activities that can potentially cause degradation of the environment. CCS can fit under this because although the aim is to benefit the environment by reducing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere, it can also bring possible negative impacts that must be dealt with through

Law 6,938/81 established the National Environmental Policy and created the National Environmental System (*Sistema Nacional do Meio Ambiente* - SISNAMA). Within the SISNAMA structure, the National Environmental Council (*Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente* - CONAMA) was created as the consultative and deliberative entity of the SISNAMA. CONAMA issues resolutions that create general guidelines, rules and

CONAMA Resolution 01/86 contains the definitions, responsibilities and basic criteria for the use and implementation of environmental impact assessment. To build and operate any project involving an activity considered potentially polluting, it is mandatory to prepare an environmental impact study (*Estudo de Impacto Ambiental* - EIA) and accompanying environmental impact report (*Relatório de Impacto Ambiental* – RIMA). The activities listed as potentially polluting that are related to an CCS project are: (a) gas pipelines; (b) extraction of fossil fuel, which would apply in the case of using the CO2 captured for enhanced oil recovery (EOR); (c) power plants, applicable in case of capture of exhaust gases from these plants; and (d) industrial plants, which would apply to a wide range of industrial activities, both in the petroleum industry (refineries, fertilizer plants, coal gasification plants) and others (steel mills, cement factories, chemical plants, etc.). Presentation of the EIA/RIMA set is a mandatory step of the licensing by the environmental agency (federal, state or municipal) and besides setting out the magnitude of probable impacts (positive and negative), muse define the mitigating measures of the

Annex I of CONAMA Resolution 237/97 lists which activities need to be licensed at the federal, state or municipal level. Projects whose "environmental impacts exceed the territorial limits of the country or of one or more of its states" fall under the remit of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (*Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis* - IBAMA), the federal environmental agency. Therefore, except for very small CCS projects, federal licensing is

Law 9,605/98, known as the "Environmental Crimes Law", defines these crimes and the penalties that can be imposed on companies and individuals to deter commission of acts harmful to the environment. For individuals found liable, the penalties include imprisonment or other restriction of rights and fines. Companies that commit environmental crimes can receive fines and temporary or even permanent interdiction of activities. As far as the duty to pay compensation for damages, the general rule is strict liability, under the polluter pays principle, whereby the polluter is obligated to repair the damage caused to other parities and the public at large, regardless of blame or intention – it is enough to have caused the damage. So, if a company commits an environmental crime and it can be established that the owners, officers/managers acted negligently or with willful misconduct

in the commission of that crime, they can be held personally liable.

preventive and/or mitigating measures.

standards.

negative ones.

required.

Source: US EPA (2011b)



Table 3. Coal-fired power plants in the United States - Source: US EPA (2011b)

Besides this, the rules will establish an emissions guide for existing units. The Agency is slated to present the proposed regulations in September 2011, and discussion is scheduled to last until May 2012, when the final versions will be presented.
