The
Environmental
Protection
Agency
(EPA)
has
just
finalized
rules
aimed
at
slashing
greenhouse
gas
emissions
from
power
plants.
But
it
still
doesn’t
crack
down
on
the
nation’s
fleet
of
gas-fired
power
plants.
That’s
a
big
omission
considering
the
US
gets
43
percent
of
its
electricity
from
gas,
more
than
from
any
other
source
of
energy.
EPA
administrator
Michael
Regan
says
the
agency
is
taking
more
time
to
strengthen
rules
for
today’s
existing
gas
power
plants.
But
waiting
too
long
risks
leaving
the
decision
up
to
a
possible
forthcoming
Trump
administration,
which
tried
to
gut
environmental
protections
the
last
time.
Meanwhile,
the
clock
is
ticking
for
the
US
to
meet
climate
commitments
it
set
under
the
Paris
agreement.
The
Biden
administration
pledged
to
cut
its
carbon
pollution
in
half
from
2005
levels
by
the
end
of
the
decade
under
that
agreement.
“A
piecemeal
approach
isn’t
going
to
get
us
there.”
“A
piecemeal
approach
isn’t
going
to
get
us
there,”
writes
Marcene
Mitchell,
World
Wildlife
Fund
senior
vice
president
of
climate
change,
in
comments
emailed
to
The
Verge.
“The
Biden
administration
has
a
responsibility
to
set
a
clear
direction
for
how
fossil
fuels
will
be
phased
out.
They
have
delivered
comprehensive
action
before,
and
we
expect
comprehensive
action
now,
not
one
undermined
by
loopholes.”
The
EPA
says
it
is
doing
something
about
existing
natural
gas
plants
—
that,
in
fact,
it’s
“committed
to
expeditiously
proposing
GHG
emission
guidelines
for
these
units”
and
plans
to
propose
new
rules.
But
for
now,
it’s
only
gathering
input
for
that
proposed
rule
in
a
“non-regulatory
docket,”
which
the
EPA
website
says
is
“not
related
to
the
development
of
a
rule.”
We’ll
be
speaking
to
EPA
administrator
Regan
later
today
about
how
the
process
might
work.
“What
we’re
doing
with
the
status
of
existing
natural
gas
plants
is
directly
in
response
to
...
both
our
industry
stakeholders
and
our
environmental
stakeholders
who
said
you
can
do
better.
And
we
decided
to
take
that
challenge,”
Regan
said
in
a
press
briefing
yesterday.
The
agency
didn’t
say
how
long
that
process
might
take,
but
it
could
effectively
leave
the
decision
up
to
voters
in
November.
When
former
President
Donald
Trump
was
in
office,
his
administration
rolled
back
more
than
100
environmental
regulations.
Trump
replaced
the
Obama
administration’s
proposed
power
plant
pollution
rules
with
his
own
weaker
measures,
which
a
federal
court
blocked
before
they
could
be
implemented.
Even
now,
the
EPA’s
power
plant
rules
are
likely
to
face
challenges
in
court
and
from
a
divided
Congress.
The
agency’s
ability
to
regulate
the
power
sector
was
already
kneecapped
by
the
Supreme
Court.
It decided
in
2022
that
the
EPA
can’t
limit
greenhouse
gas
emissions
in
a
way
that
determines
which
sources
of
energy
the
US
uses.
In
other
words,
it
can’t
overtly
push
utilities
to
turn
to
renewables
like
solar
and
wind
energy.
The
decision
effectively
pushed
the
EPA
to
rely
on
controversial
carbon
capture
technologies
in
any
policy
to
cut
power
plant
emissions.
Under
rules
the
EPA
announced
today,
newly
built
gas
plants
and
existing
coal
plants
will
need
to
eventually
“control
90
percent
of
their
carbon
pollution.”
In
this
case,
control
really
means
capturing
CO2
emissions
using
technologies
that
scrub
the
greenhouse
gas
out
of
smokestack
emissions
before
they
can
be
released
into
the
atmosphere.
Carbon
capture
tech
is
loved
by
fossil
fuel
companies
and
despised
by
many
environmental
and
health
advocates
—
because
instead
of
having
to
phase
out
fossil
fuel-fired
power
plants,
utilities
can
keep
those
plants
open
longer
while
still
meeting
climate
goals.
That’s
a
big
disappointment
to
communities
who
had
hoped
that
a
transition
to
renewable
energy
would
get
rid
of
other
pollutants
like
soot
and
smog
from
power
plants.
“We’re
talking
about
putting
all
our
hopes
and
dreams
for
the
future
in
experimental
[carbon
capture]
technology,”
says
Maria
Lopez-Nuñez,
a
board
member
for
the
Climate
Justice
Alliance
and
a
deputy
director
at
Ironbound
Community
Corporation in
Newark,
New
Jersey.
Lopez-Nuñez
says
she
lives
in
a
neighborhood
with
three
power
plants
within
four
square
miles.
When
the
Biden
administration
initially
proposed
tougher
carbon
emission
standards
for
power
plants
last
year,
it
included
existing
gas
power
plants
—
but
similarly
relied
on
carbon
capture
to
clean
them
up.
That
wouldn’t
have
gotten
rid
of
other
power
plant
air
pollutants
that
her
community
has
to
deal
with,
Lopez-Nuñez
says.
She
wants
the
EPA
to
consider
the
cumulative
impact
power
plants
have
on
residents
when
drafting
new
rules
and
thinks
it’s
worth
taking
a
gamble
with
the
upcoming
presidential
election
if
the
agency
is
serious
about
crafting
a
stronger
rule.
“They
better
not
be
misleading
folks
with
the
delay
because
we
are
under
the
impression
the
delay
is
to
strengthen
the
rule,
not
...
to
just
hold
off
until
the
election.
This
is
not
a
political
game,
you
know,
there
are
real
lives
at
stake,”
she
says.
Costs
are
another
big
concern
Costs
are
another
big
concern
with
carbon
capture.
The
Department
of
Energy
(DOE)
has
already
lost
hundreds
of
millions
of
dollars funding
carbon
capture
projects
that
ultimately
failed,
according
to
a
2021
report
by
the
Government
Accountability
Office.
After
spending
$684
million
on
carbon
capture
projects
at
six
coal
plants,
just
one
got
off
the
ground
—
the
others
couldn’t
sustain
themselves
financially.
The
one
project
that
managed
to
start
running
later
ended
up
shuttering
in
2020
because
it
also
couldn’t
sustain
itself
during
the
pandemic
but
came
back
on
line
in
Texas
last
year.
Recognizing
those
challenges,
the
EPA’s
final
rule
also
gives
power
plants
more
time
to
comply
with
pollution-cutting
measures.
Power
plants
have
until
2032
to
comply,
which
is
two
years
later
than
what
the
EPA
initially
proposed
last
year.
The
Biden
administration
tried
to
bring
costs
down
for
carbon
capture
by
expanding
tax
credits
for
the
technologies
in
2022.
The
hope
is
that
it’ll
be
cheaper
moving
forward
than
it
was
when
those
DOE-funded
projects
flopped.
Coal
plants
are
dirtier
than
gas
plants,
so
they
still
are
the
largest
source
of
greenhouse
gas
emissions
from
the
power
sector,
according
to
the
EPA.
It
expects
its
new
rules
to
avoid
1.38
billion
metric
tons
of
carbon
pollution
through
2047,
which
is
like
erasing
nearly
a
full
year
of
emissions
from
the
power
sector.
The
EPA
also
tightened
limits
on
mercury
emissions,
water
pollution,
and
coal
ash
from
power
plants
today.
Altogether,
the
measures
garnered
some
celebration
from
environmental
groups.
“The
new
standards
announced
today will
dramatically
reduce
climate
pollution
while
ensuring
millions
of
people
will
have
cleaner,
safer
air
and
water,”
Abigail
Dillen,
president
of
the
nonprofit
environmental
law
organization
Earthjustice,
said
in
emailed
comments
to
The
Verge.
“Tackling
pollution
from
existing
gas-fired power
plants
is
the
essential
next
step.”
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