Are there any safety valves for affected power plants?
If an affected power plant reduces CO2 emissions on or after December 20, 2005, (the date of the MOU) through an approved offset CO2 project, it will be awarded offset allowances that it may use to comply with the future cap and trade requirements. The use of offsets is not unlimited; in each compliance period, an affected power plant may cover only up to 3.3% of its reported emissions (approximately 50% of a source’s average compliance obligation) with offset allowances. Therefore, a significant portion of the required reductions must occur at the power plants. Since there is no technology to control CO2, this would mean that power plants will reduce electric output or switch to a lower CO2-generating fossil fuel. The MOU lists the following approved offset projects: landfill gas (methane) capture and combustion; sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) capture and recycling; afforestation (transition of land from nonforested to forested state); end-use efficiency for natural gas, propane, and heati
