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SW: added HR 5575
Washington has followed the same approach as California, prohibiting coal plants whose emissions would exceed those of natural gas plants. Substitute Senate Bill 6001 (SSB 6001), signed on May 3, 2007, by Governor Gregoire, enacted the standard. <ref>Christina Russell, [http://tinyurl.com/ywdpyr “Wallula Coal Plant Proposal Controversial Among Students, Faculty,”] Whitman College Pioneer, 11/15/07</ref> As a result of SSB 6001, the [[Pacific Mountain Energy Center]] in Kalama was rejected by the state. However, a new plant proposal, the [[Wallula Energy Resource Center]], shows the limits of the "natural gas equivalency" approach as a means of stopping carbon dioxide emissions from coal plants. This proposed plant would meet the standard set by SSB 6001, even though it would capture and sequester a portion (65 percent, according to a plant spokesman) of its carbon.<ref>Christina Russell, [http://tinyurl.com/ywdpyr “Wallula Coal Plant Proposal Controversial Among Students, Faculty,”] Whitman College Pioneer, 11/15/07</ref>
==Proposed legislation==
===H.R. 5575, the "Moratorium on Uncontrolled Power Plants Act"===
In March, 2008, Henry A. Waxman and Edward J. Markey, co-chair of the U.S. House or Representatives Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, introduced H.R. 5575, the “Moratorium on Uncontrolled Power Plants Act of 2008.” The legislation addresses the largest new source of global warming pollution — new coal-fired power plants that are being built without any controls on their global warming emissions.<ref>[http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1797 "Chairman Waxman Introduces H.R. 5575, the 'Moratorium on Uncontrolled Power Plants Act',"] announcement, 3/11/08</ref>
The legislation states: "Effective upon the date of enactment of this Act, no permitting authority shall issue a permit for a proposed new coal-fired electric generating unit under the Clean Air Act, unless the permit requires the unit to use state-of-the-art control technology to capture and permanently sequester carbon dioxide emissions from such unit."<ref>[http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080311112442.pdf "H. R. 5575,"] text or proposed legislation, 3/11/08</ref>
"State-of-the-art control technology" is defined as "The term ‘‘technology that captures not less than 85 percent of the total carbon dioxide produced by the unit on an annual average basis and permanently sequesters that carbon dioxide in a geological
formation approved by the Administrator in a manner that prevents its later release into the atmosphere."<ref>[http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080311112442.pdf "H. R. 5575,"] text or proposed legislation, 3/11/08</ref>
==Utility action==
