By MATTHEW DALY (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse fuel emissions from coal- and gas-fired energy crops, its most bold effort but to roll again planet-warming air pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to local weather change.
A rule introduced by the Environmental Protection Agency may power energy crops to seize smokestack emissions utilizing a expertise that has lengthy been promised however will not be used extensively within the United States.
“This administration is committed to meeting the urgency of the climate crisis and taking the necessary actions required,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan mentioned.
The new rule would “significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants, protecting health and protecting our planet,” Regan mentioned. The plan wouldn’t solely “improve air quality nationwide, but it will bring substantial health benefits to communities all across the country, especially our frontline communities … that have unjustly borne the burden of pollution for decades,” Regan mentioned in a speech on the University of Maryland.
If finalized, the proposed regulation would mark the primary time the federal authorities has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from present energy crops, which generate about 25% of U.S. greenhouse fuel air pollution, second solely to the transportation sector. The rule additionally would apply to future electrical crops and would keep away from as much as 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide via 2042, equal to annual emissions of 137 million passenger automobiles, the EPA mentioned.
Almost all coal crops — together with massive, regularly used gas-fired energy crops — must reduce or seize almost all their carbon dioxide emissions by 2038, the EPA mentioned. Plants that can’t meet the brand new requirements can be pressured to retire.
The plan is prone to be challenged by trade teams and Republican-leaning states. They have accused the Democratic administration of overreach on environmental rules and warn of a pending reliability disaster for the electrical grid. The energy plant rule is one in every of not less than a half-dozen EPA guidelines limiting energy plant emissions and wastewater therapy.
“It’s truly an onslaught” of presidency regulation “designed to shut down the coal fleet prematurely,” mentioned Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.
Regan denied that the ability plant rule — or some other regulation — was geared toward shutting down the coal sector, however acknowledged, “We will see some coal retirements.”
The proposal “relies on proven, readily available technologies to limit carbon pollution” and builds on trade practices already underway to maneuver towards clear vitality, he mentioned.
Coal gives about 20% of U.S. electrical energy, down from about 45% in 2010. Natural fuel gives about 40% of U.S. electrical energy. The the rest comes from nuclear vitality and renewables equivalent to wind, photo voltaic and hydropower.
Environmental teams hailed EPA’s motion as urgently wanted to guard in opposition to devastating harms of local weather change, from more and more extreme flooding, hurricanes and drought to worsening wildfires.
Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, mentioned the proposal “will bring us closer to a clean energy future with healthier air, a safer climate, good jobs and affordable, reliable electricity.”
But Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, mentioned the plan would additional pressure America’s electrical grid and “undermine decades of work to reliably keep the lights on across the nation.”
Matheson, whose affiliation represents 900 native electrical cooperatives throughout the nation, mentioned EPA’s plan may “force critical, always-available power plants into early retirement, and make new natural gas plants exceedingly difficult to permit, site and build.”
Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents a whole bunch of investor-owned electrical firms, mentioned the group will assess whether or not the EPA’s proposal aligns with its dedication to supply dependable, clear vitality.
Carbon emissions from the U.S. energy sector are on the similar stage as in 1984, whereas electrical energy use has climbed 73% since then, Kuhn mentioned.
The EPA rule wouldn’t mandate use of apparatus to seize and retailer carbon emissions — a expertise that’s costly and nonetheless being developed. Instead, the company would set caps on carbon dioxide air pollution that plant operators must meet. Some pure fuel crops may begin mixing fuel with one other gas supply equivalent to hydrogen, which doesn’t emit carbon, though particular actions can be left to the trade.
Still, the regulation is predicted to result in larger use of carbon seize tools, a expertise that the EPA mentioned has been “adequately demonstrated” to regulate air pollution.
Jessie Stolark, government director the Carbon Capture Coalition, mentioned the proposed guidelines “elevate the role of carbon capture by naming it as one of the available technologies for reaching emissions standards.” Even with aggressive progress of renewables over the subsequent decade, fossil fuels, particularly pure fuel, “will be in the domestic energy mix for decades,” mentioned Stolark, whose coalition contains trade, labor and environmental teams.
About 60% of the electrical energy generated within the U.S. final yr got here from burning fossil fuels on the nation’s 3,400 coal and gas-fired crops, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“These rules are a big deal,” mentioned David Doniger, senior strategic director for local weather and clear vitality on the Natural Resources Defense Council. The energy plant guidelines are essential to assembly President Joe Biden’s targets to chop greenhouse fuel emissions in half by 2030 and get rid of carbon emissions from the ability grid by 2035, he and different advocates mentioned.
“We need to do this to meet the climate crisis,” Doniger mentioned.
The proposal comes weeks after the administration introduced strict new tailpipe air pollution limits that may require as much as two-thirds of latest automobiles bought within the U.S. to be electrical by 2032 and months after Biden introduced guidelines to curb methane leaks from oil and fuel wells.
The guidelines comply with local weather motion by the 2021 infrastructure regulation and billions of {dollars} in tax credit and different incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act, accepted final yr.
While Biden has made preventing international warming a high precedence, he has confronted sharp criticism from environmentalists — significantly younger local weather activists — for a latest determination to approve the contentious Willow oil mission in Alaska. The huge drilling plan by oil big ConocoPhillips may produce as much as 180,000 barrels of oil a day on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope. Environmental teams name Willow a “carbon bomb” and have mounted a social media #CeaseWillow marketing campaign.
The new plan comes 14 years after the EPA declared that carbon dioxide and different greenhouse gases endanger public well being. President Barack Obama tried to set limits on carbon air pollution from U.S. energy crops, however his 2015 Clean Power Plan was blocked by the Supreme Court and later was rolled again by President Donald Trump.
Last yr, the Supreme Court restricted how the Clean Air Act can be utilized to cut back climate-altering emissions from energy crops. The 6-3 ruling confirmed the EPA’s authority to control carbon emissions from energy crops however mentioned it couldn’t power a nationwide transition away from the usage of coal to generate electrical energy.
Vickie Patton, basic counsel on the Environmental Defense Fund, mentioned the rule depends on EPA’s conventional authority to control air air pollution and “is “consistent with the language in the majority opinion” by Chief Justice John Roberts. “What you see here is a proposal that takes great care to address the Supreme Court’s concerns,” she mentioned.
The EPA mentioned its new rule will give plant operators flexibility to satisfy the brand new requirements in a technique of their selecting. And as a substitute of making one restrict that every one energy crops should meet, the company mentioned it should set a spread of targets based mostly on the dimensions of the plant, how usually it’s used and whether or not it’s already scheduled for retirement.
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Associated Press author Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP’s protection of local weather change at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Source: www.bostonherald.com”