The world continues to shift for the energy sector in California. On Monday, U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy announced the highly anticipated proposed CO2 standards for existing power plants in the U.S.  The proposed rules would affect existing power plants undertaking changes, as well as those not contemplating any modifications.  What’s more, states can meet the proposed standards through implementation of renewable energy and demand-side energy efficiency gains to lower CO2 emissions from energy generation, as well as curbing CO2 from conventional power plants directly.  Time will tell whether this could lead our Public Utilities Commission or Legislature to push the state RPS beyond 33%.  U.S. EPA’s proposed rule would set an interim 2020 goal for California of 556 lbs CO2/(net) MWh for all affected generating units and a final 2030 goal of 537 lbs CO2/(net) MWh.  The 120-day comment period on the proposed rules will commence when they are published in the Federal Register within the next couple of weeks.  EPA will take its proposal on a road show in the last week of July, holding public hearings in Atlanta, Denver, Pittsburgh, as well as Washington D.C.  For more details on the proposed rules, see our alert here.