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Environmental Developments | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2012
Environmental Developments [Abstract] |
Environmental Developments | Environmental Developments Greenhouse Gas Regulation There have been a number of federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. Any climate change regulation or other legal obligation that would require substantial reductions in GHG emissions or that would impose additional costs or charges for GHG emissions could significantly increase the cost of generating electricity from fossil fuels as well as the cost of purchased power, which could adversely affect SCE's business. In the case of utilities, like SCE, these costs are generally borne by customers. Significant developments include the following:
• | In June 2010, the US EPA issued the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (“PSD”) and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule, known as the “GHG tailoring rule.” This regulation generally subjects newly constructed sources of GHG emissions and newly modified existing major sources to the Prevention of Significant Deterioration air permitting program (and later, to the Title V permitting program under the CAA), beginning in January 2011. A challenge to the GHG tailoring rule (along with other GHG regulations and determinations issued by the US EPA) is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Under a pending court settlement, the US EPA was to propose performance standards for GHG emissions from new and modified power plants. The specific requirements will not be known until the regulations are finalized. In March 2012, the US EPA announced proposed carbon dioxide emissions limits for new power plants. The status of the US EPA's efforts to develop greenhouse gas emissions performance standards for existing plants is unknown.
• | In December 2011, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) regulation was officially published establishing a California cap-and-trade program. The first compliance period under the regulations is for 2013 GHG emissions. CARB regulations implementing a California cap-and-trade program and the cap-and-trade program itself continue to be the subject of litigation.
• | In April 2011, California enacted a law requiring California retail sellers of electricity to procure 33% of their customers' electricity requirements from renewable resources, as defined in the statute. Specifically, the new law establishes multi-year compliance periods and requires the CPUC and the CEC to establish the quantity of renewable resources to be procured according to the limitations set forth in the statute. On December 1, 2011, the CPUC approved a decision setting procurement quantity requirements for CPUC-regulated retail sellers that incrementally increase to 33% over several periods between January 2011 and December 31, 2020. The quantity would remain at 33% of retail sales for each year thereafter.
• | In June 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the challenge by industry groups and some states to the Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule, known as the "GHG tailoring rule." In July 2012, the US EPA published a final rule maintaining the CO2 equivalent emissions thresholds (for purposes of PSD and Title V permitting) originally established in the GHG tailoring rule.
Greenhouse Gas Litigation In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed public nuisance claims against five power companies, ruling that the CAA and the US EPA actions it authorizes displace federal common law nuisance claims that might arise from the emission of GHGs. The court also affirmed the Second Circuit's determination that at least some of the plaintiffs had standing to bring the case. The court did not address whether the CAA also preempts state law claims arising from the same circumstances. In September 2012, a three-judge panel of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a case brought against Edison International and other defendants by the Alaskan Native Village of Kivalina. In November 2012, the plaintiffs' request for a rehearing by a larger panel of Ninth Circuit judges was denied. Plaintiffs seek damages of up to $400 million for the cost of relocating the village, which they claim is no longer protected from storms because the Arctic sea ice has melted as the result of climate change. In March 2012, the federal district court in Mississippi dismissed, in its entirety, the purported class action complaint filed by private citizens in May 2011, naming a large number of defendants, including SCE and other Edison International subsidiaries, for damages allegedly arising from Hurricane Katrina. In April 2012, the plaintiffs filed an appeal with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which remains pending. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants' activities resulted in emissions of substantial quantities of greenhouse gases that have contributed to climate change and sea level rise, which in turn are alleged to have increased the destructive force of Hurricane Katrina. The lawsuit alleges causes of action for negligence, public and private nuisance, and trespass, and seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The claims in this lawsuit are nearly identical to a subset of the claims that were raised against many of the same defendants in a previous lawsuit that was filed in, and dismissed by, the same federal district court where the current case has been filed.

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