Energy Officials Want Stricter Emission Regulations for Coal Plants

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 11, 2007 at 12:26 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

California state utility officials want new rules to restrict emissions from new coal-burning plants. Energy officials say most coal plants produce high levels dangerous gases. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce

California state utility officials want new rules to restrict emissions from new coal-burning plants. Energy officials say most coal plants produce high levels dangerous gases. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce tells us climate scientists blame those gases for rising temperatures around the world.

Energy officials want coal plants to meet stricter emission standards. State regulators say tougher standards will reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Those emissions have been blamed for global warming. The state has few coal-burning plants. But out-of-state coal-burning plants provide about 20 percent of the state’s electricity supply. State regulators are considering new rules for utilities that import power from coal plants. Eddie Van Herik is with San Diego Gas and Electric. Herik says the utility has one long-term coal contract.

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Herik: This is approximately three percent and that’s out of a hundred percent that we’re using this year and certainly we will be planning to accommodate the loss of that.

The SDG&E contract ends in 2013. The proposed rules would not affect existing utility contracts with coal-fired plants. State regulators are expected to vote on the rules this month. Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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