DEP Seeks Input on Carbon Emissions Plan, Study

West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection is calling for thoughts and data that will help determine how the state can meet federal goals to reduce carbon emissions.

Earlier this year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a final plan for reducing carbon emissions from power plants across the country. The goal of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan is to cut carbon pollution from the power sector by 32 percent relative to 2005 levels, and to achieve that goal by 2030.

West Virginia now has about six months to conduct a feasibility study. Marshall University researchers are participating in the study, which was mandated by lawmakers during the last legislative session. If development of a plan is deemed feasible, the DEP says, the next step would be to develop the plan and submit it to the West Virginia Legislature for approval before submitting it to the EPA. A final plan, or a request for extension has to be sent to the EPA by September next year. The federal agency mandates that state plans must be submitted no later than September of  2018.

The DEP is accepting information through the end of the year.

Anyone with data that could be useful in the development of the feasibility study and/or state plan, or who would like to provide comments about the Clean Power Plan in general, is invited to share that information with the DEP.

Comments can be emailed to dep.comments@wv.gov, with “Clean Power Plan Study Comments” in the subject line, by Dec. 31, 2015. Information can also be mailed by that date to:

Clean Power Plan Study Comments

West Virginia DEP

601 57th Street SE

Charleston, WV  25304