State bans power from dirty plants

SAN FRANCISCO — California utility regulators banned power companies Thursday from buying electricity from high-polluting energy sources, including most out-of-state coal plants, to curb global warming.

The Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 to adopt the "greenhouse gas emissions performance standard," which will prohibit utilities and other energy providers from entering long-term contracts with sources that emit more carbon dioxide than a modern natural gas plant.

"It represents a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to address the challenge of climate change," PUC President Michael Peevey said.

The new rules are expected to affect energy markets across the West. While there are almost no coal-fired plants in California, about 20 percent of the state's electricity comes from coal plants in Nevada, Wyoming, Utah and other Western states.

Reed Searle, general manager of South Jordan-based Intermountain Power, said in December that company's plans to build a third coal-fired plant in western Utah will proceed regardless of California's actions because cities in Utah are on a waiting list for the power. However, he said the company has heard California's demand for cleaner energy.

"We have been doing research and putting funds into carbon-reduction technologies," he said at the time.

The new standard is aimed at encouraging investment in cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar, while discouraging use of coal and other high-polluting sources. Coal is cheap and plentiful, but releases high levels of carbon dioxide, a gas blamed for trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere and raising temperatures worldwide.

The standard, which is expected to take effect Feb. 1, was adopted as part of California's strategy to combat climate change. Legislation signed into law last year required the state to adopt emission standards for investor-owned and municipal utilities.

The PUC regulates the state's three investor-owned utilities — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in San Francisco, Southern California Edison in Rosemead and San Diego Gas & Electric. The California Energy Commission is drawing up a similar emissions standard for municipal utilities.

Environmentalists praised the PUC's emissions standard, saying it could encourage other states to adopt similar rules.

"It will help transition California's energy market to one that produces less greenhouse gas emissions," said Jim Metropolus of the Sierra Club. "Other states may look at it and decide that they also want to transition from dirty coal power to cleaner, green power."