Washington — Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule released Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back global warming pollution from the sector electricity, the country’s second largest contributor to pollution. climate change. These rules are a key part of President Biden’s commitment to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and from the entire economy by 2050.
The rule is part of four separate measures targeting coal and natural gas plants that the EPA said would provide “steady certainty” to the electricity sector and encourage it to invest in the transition “towards a sustainable economy.” ‘clean energy “. They also include requirements to reduce toxic pollutants in wastewater from coal-fired power plants and to safely manage coal ash in unlined storage ponds.
The new rules “reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants, protect communities from pollution, and improve public health – all while supporting a reliable, long-term supply of electricity needed to power America,” it said. EPA Administrator Michael Regan to reporters at the event. a briefing at the White House.
The plan will likely be opposed by industry groups and Republican-leaning states. They have repeatedly accused the Democratic administration of going too far on environmental regulations and warned of a looming power grid reliability crisis. The rules released Thursday are among at least a half-dozen EPA rules limiting power plant emissions and wastewater pollution.
Environmental groups welcomed the EPA’s latest action, calling it an urgent need to protect against the devastating harms of climate change.
The power plant rule marks the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. The rule would also require future coal- or gas-fired power plants to control up to 90% of their carbon pollution. The new standards will prevent 1.38 billion tons of carbon pollution by 2047, equivalent to the annual emissions of 328 million gasoline-powered cars, the EPA said, and will bring hundreds of billions dollars in climate and health benefits, measured in fewer premature deaths. cases of asthma and lost days of work or school.
Coal plants that plan to stay open beyond 2039 are expected to reduce or capture 90% of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2032, the EPA said. Factories that plan to close by 2039 would face less stringent standards, but would still have to capture some emissions. Coal-fired power plants scheduled to cease operations by 2032 would not be subject to the new rules.
Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said that through the latest rules, “EPA is systematically dismantling the reliability of America’s power grid.”
He accused Mr. Biden, Regan and other officials of “ignoring our energy reality and forcing the closure of well-functioning coal plants that repeatedly come to the rescue during periods of peak demand.” The repercussions of this reckless plan will be felt across the country. by all Americans. »
Regan denied that the rules were intended to shut down the coal sector, but acknowledged in proposing the power plant rule last year that “we will see coal retirements.”
The proposal builds on technologies to limit carbon pollution that the industry itself has said are viable and available, Regan said. “Several power companies have indicated that (carbon capture and storage) is a viable technology for the power sector today, and they are currently pursuing these CCS projects,” he said Wednesday to journalists.
Coal provided about 16% of U.S. electricity last year, up from about 45% in 2010. Natural gas provides about 43% of U.S. electricity, with the rest coming from nuclear power and renewables such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power.
Environmentalists welcome EPA action
The power plant rule “completes a historic grand slam” of major actions by the Biden administration to reduce carbon pollution, said David Doniger, a climate and clean energy expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The first and most important action was the passage of the Climate Act of 2022, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, he said, followed by separate EPA rules targeting carbon emissions. car and truck exhaust and methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.
Together, the climate law and the EPA rule package “are the largest reductions in carbon pollution we have ever made and will put the country on a path to completely eliminating carbon emissions “Doniger said in an interview.
The country still faces challenges in eliminating carbon from transportation, heavy industry and more, said Abigail Dillen, president of the environmental group Earthjustice, “but we can’t make progress in any of these areas without cleaning the power plants.
The industry is blowing them up
Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, called the EPA rule “illegal, unrealistic and unworkable,” adding that it was the subject of some legal challenge. The rule ignores the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that limited the agency’s ability to regulate carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act, Matheson said. It also relies on technologies that are “promising, but not ready for prime time,” he said.
“This barrage of new rules from the EPA ignores our nation’s current electrical reliability challenges and is the wrong approach at a critical time for our nation’s energy future,” said Matheson, whose association represents 900 local electric cooperatives across the country.
The EPA rule would not require the use of equipment to capture and store carbon emissions — a technology that is expensive and still in development. Instead, the agency would set caps on carbon dioxide pollution that plant operators would have to meet. Some natural gas plants could begin blending gas with other fuel sources that don’t emit carbon, although specific measures would be left to the industry.
Nonetheless, regulation is expected to lead to greater use of carbon capture equipment. Only a handful of projects are operating in the country despite years of research.
Other new EPA measures
The EPA also strengthened rules aimed at reducing wastewater pollution from coal-fired power plants and preventing damage from toxic coal ash, a byproduct of coal burning.
Coal ash contains carcinogens like arsenic and mercury that can leach into soil, drinking water and nearby rivers and streams, harming people and killing fish. Waste is usually stored in ponds near power plants. The EPA issued rules in 2015 to regulate active and new ponds at operating facilities, seven years after a disaster in Kingston, Tennessee, that flooded two rivers with toxic waste and destroyed property.
Environmental groups challenged this rule, arguing that it left a large amount of coal ash waste unregulated by the federal government. The rule released Thursday requires property owners to safely close inactive coal ash ponds and clean up the contamination.
A separate rule would reduce toxic wastewater pollution by 660 million pounds a year, according to federal officials. This is a reversal of the Trump administration’s push to relax standards for wastewater from coal plants.
“For the first time, we have seen a comprehensive set of standards that protect surrounding waterways from extremely unpleasant water pollution from these coal-fired sites,” said Frank Holleman, attorney at Southern Environmental Law. Center.
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