House Resolution 37 - Introduced HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 37 BY PETTENGILL , KAUFMANN , SANDS , J. SMITH , ALONS , IVERSON , WATTS , SHAW , HEATON , BAUDLER , TJEPKES , DRAKE , SCHULTZ , BALTIMORE , BYRNES , HORBACH , RASMUSSEN , SODERBERG , GRASSLEY , PAUSTIAN , DOLECHECK , CHAMBERS , VANDER LINDEN , MUHLBAUER , HEIN , WITTNEBEN , RAYHONS , WINDSCHITL , WENTHE , MOORE , THOMAS , DE BOEF , DEYOE , FRY , MASSIE , and QUIRK A Resolution urging the nullification of rules adopted 1 by the United States Environmental Protection 2 Agency relating to national emissions standards for 3 hazardous air pollutants for reciprocating internal 4 combustion engines. 5 WHEREAS, the United States Environmental 6 Protection Agency in March 2010 finalized national 7 emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants for 8 reciprocating internal combustion engines which took 9 effect in May 2013; and 10 WHEREAS, the rules would have a devastating impact 11 on Iowa’s municipal utilities due to the fact that the 12 municipal utilities collectively operate 287 diesel 13 electric generators with a combined nameplate capacity 14 of 548 megawatts; and 15 WHEREAS, these rules impact 67 utilities that serve 16 a total of 106,000 customers with an average of 1,560 17 customer meters per utility; and 18 WHEREAS, Iowa’s municipal electric utilities 19 operate diesel generators both to be able to keep the 20 lights on when transmissions lines are downed by ice, 21 -1- LSB 2763HH (4) 84 tm/nh 1/ 3
H.R. 37 wind, floods, or other natural disasters or man-made 1 emergencies, and to meet the obligation to own or buy 2 reserve capacity; and 3 WHEREAS, the rules allow a municipal electric 4 utility to run diesel generators in an emergency, but 5 effectively take away the ability of a small community 6 to afford them by prohibiting the receipt of payment or 7 credit for reserve capacity; and 8 WHEREAS, the diesel generators run only a few hours 9 a year, with averages ranging from 14 to 46 hours 10 depending on power supply arrangements; and 11 WHEREAS, the application of the rules requires that 12 each of these engines either be retrofit, replaced, 13 or removed, resulting in huge cost increases to the 14 citizen owners of these utilities in the form of rate 15 increases and lost capacity; and 16 WHEREAS, the cost estimate if all 287 diesel 17 generators were to be retrofit for compliance over a 18 10-year period is $36 million, which is an average cost 19 of $34.14 per year per customer with costs as high 20 as $203 per year per customer or more, and such cost 21 estimates would increase beyond this amount if diesel 22 generators are replaced or taken out of service; NOW 23 THEREFORE, 24 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That 25 the United States Environmental Protection Agency is 26 urged to rescind the national emissions standards for 27 hazardous air pollutants for reciprocating internal 28 combustion engines; and 29 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That Iowa’s Congressional 30 -2- LSB 2763HH (4) 84 tm/nh 2/ 3
H.R. 37 delegation is urged to take action to nullify the 1 rules; and 2 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the 3 House of Representatives shall forward a copy of this 4 resolution to the Administrator of the United States 5 Environmental Protection Agency and all members of 6 Iowa’s Congressional delegation. 7 -3- LSB 2763HH (4) 84 tm/nh 3/ 3