(a) Financial requirements. As a condition of plant operation,
each owner or operator of a baseload electric generation facility or unit or
baseload electric cogeneration facility or unit utilizing nongeologic
sequestration as a method to comply with the emission performance standard in
WAC 463-85-130 is required to provide
a letter of credit sufficient to ensure successful implementation, closure, and
post-closure activities identified in the sequestration plan and sequestration
program, including construction and operation of necessary equipment, and any
other significant costs.
(i) The owner or operator of a proposed sequestration project
shall establish a letter of credit to cover all expenses for construction and
operation of necessary equipment, and any other significant costs. The cost
estimate for the sequestration project shall be revised annually to include any
changes in the project and to include cost changes due to inflation.
(ii) Closure and post-closure financial assurances. The owner
or operator shall establish a closure and a post-closure letter of credit to
cover all closure and post-closure expenses, respectively. The owner or
operator must designate EFSEC as the beneficiary to carry out the closure and
post-closure activities. The value of the closure and post-closure accounts
shall cover all costs of closure and post-closure care identified in the
closure and post-closure plan. The closure and post-closure cost estimates
shall be revised annually to include any changes in the sequestration project
and to include cost changes due to inflation. The obligation to maintain the
account for closure and post-closure care survives the termination of any
permits and the cessation of injection. The requirement to maintain the closure
and post-closure accounts is enforceable regardless of whether the requirement
is a specific condition of the permit.
(b) The application for approval of a sequestration plan or
sequestration program shall include (but is not limited to) the
following:
(i) A current site map showing the boundaries of the permanent
sequestration project containment system(s) and all areas where greenhouse
gases will be stored.
(ii) A technical evaluation of the proposed project, including
but not limited to, the following:
(A) The name of the area in which the sequestration will take
place;
(B) A description of the facilities and place of greenhouse
gases containment system;
(C) A complete site description of the site, including but not
limited to the terrain, the geology, the climate (including rain and snowfall
expected), any land use restrictions that exist at the time of the application
or will be placed upon the site in the future;
(D) The proposed calculated maximum volume of greenhouse gases
to be sequestered and areal extent of the location where the greenhouse gases
will be stored using a method acceptable to and filed with EFSEC or ecology as
appropriate; and
(E) Evaluation of the quantity of sequestered greenhouse gases
that may escape from the containment system at the proposed project.
(iii) A public safety and emergency response plan for the
proposed project. The plan shall detail the safety procedures concerning the
sequestration project containment system and residential, commercial, and
public land use within one mile, or as necessary to identify potential impacts,
of the outside boundary of the project area.
(iv) A greenhouse gases loss detection and monitoring plan for
all parts of the sequestration project. The approved greenhouse gases loss
detection and monitoring plan shall address identification of potential release
to the atmosphere;
(v) A detailed schedule of annual benchmarks for sequestration
of greenhouse gases;
(vi) Any other information that the department deems necessary
to make its determination;
(vii) A closure and post-closure plan.
(c) In order to monitor the effectiveness of the implementation
of the sequestration plan or sequestration program the owner or operator shall
submit a detailed monitoring plan that will ensure detection of failure of the
sequestration method to place the greenhouse gases into a sequestered state.
The monitoring plan will be sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that the
sequestration provided by the project meets the definition of permanent
sequestration. The monitoring shall continue for the longer of twenty years
beyond the end of placement of the greenhouse gases into sequestration
containment system, or twenty years beyond the date upon which it is determined
that all of the greenhouse gases have achieved a state at which they are now
stably sequestered in that environment.
(d) If the sequestration plan or sequestration program fails to
sequester greenhouse gases as provided in the plan or program, the owner or
operator of the baseload electric generation facility or unit or baseload
electric cogeneration facility or unit is no longer in compliance with the
emissions performance standard.