Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will seek stakeholder input on the development of a federal plan for meeting the Clean Power Plan’s carbon emission goals. Earlier this month, the EPA set a deadline of this summer for issuance of its final Clean Power Plan which will regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants. This summer, the EPA also anticipates publishing final rules regulating carbon emissions from new, modified and reconstructed power plants. In conjunction with finalizing these rules, the EPA is expected to propose a federal plan for meeting the Clean Power Plan’s emission goals. The federal plan will likely guide many states as they develop their own plans to implement the Clean Power Plan.
 
The EPA is accepting input from certain stakeholders as the agency develops the proposed federal plan. Entities interested in potentially advising the EPA on potential impacts from the rule may nominate themselves. The EPA is only accepting nominations from (1) small businesses (businesses that qualify as “small” under the Small Business Administration’s definition), and (2) entities that exclusively or primarily represent potentially regulated small entities (such as a trade association). Also, the EPA is only seeking input from entities that expect to be directly impacted by the Clean Power Plan regulations.  The EPA is accepting nominations through February 10, 2015, and will select participants from the nominations.