EPA Proposes First Cap on Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Emissions

What's the story?

• The Biden administration plans to introduce a new rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, according to three people briefed on the regulation.
• If the rule passed, it would be the first time the federal government limits CO2 emissions from existing power plants in the U.S., which produce about 25% of the country's pollution. The White House's Office of Management and Budget is reviewing and adjusting the proposal before it is officially introduced. 

What's in the proposed rule?

• The proposed rule would require almost all existing and future coal and gas-fired power plants to cut or capture nearly 100% of their CO2 emissions by 2040.
• Plant operators would have to meet pollution rates by using carbon capture equipment or switching to a fuel source like green hydrogen, which doesn't emit carbon, in the case of gas plants. The EPA plans to be flexible with the regulation, creating targets based on the size of the plant and its running schedule. 
• The sources said the regulation would lead to broader adoption of carbon capture technology, which many models cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say is necessary to keep global warming under 2 degrees Celsius.   

What they're saying

• Maria Michalos, an EPA spokesperson, said:

"[The agency] is moving urgently to advance standards that protect people and the planet, building on the momentum from President Biden's Investing in America economic agenda, including proposals to address carbon emissions from new and existing power plants."

• Electric utility companies criticized the proposed policy, and many like it, for forcing them to install expensive carbon capture technology, which could drive up customer costs. A group of investors said the high prices "make it a risky and potentially expensive decarbonization strategy."
• Carrie Jenks, the executive director of the Harvard Environmental and Energy Law program, highlighted that carbon capture equipment is becoming more accessible thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act's incentives to speed up the implementation of the technology. She said:

"To date, the power sector has not found it economical to build. But the IRA's incentives really reduce the cost and make it economically viable. We are seeing companies want to build."

• The Republican attorney general of West Virginia, Patrick Morrisey, said in a statement: 

"We are eager to review the EPA's new proposed rule on power plants, and we'll be ready once again to lead the charge in the fight against federal overreach."

Why haven't limits to power plant emissions already been set?

• It took so long for the EPA to impose limits on power plant emissions because the agency needed authority over those regulations and has been consistently met with barriers from the industry and Republicans in the federal government.
• Former President Barack Obama attempted to enact limits on power plant pollution, which the Supreme Court and then former President Trump stopped from happening.
• Last summer, the Supreme Court gave the EPA limited authority to regulate these carbon emissions. Additionally, when Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act, they included language that defined greenhouse gases as pollutants to be controlled by the EPA. 

What's next?

• If implemented, the regulations — combined with Biden's plans to speed up the transition to electric vehicles, curb methane leaks from oil and gas wells, and pour $370 billion into clean energy — would significantly reduce U.S. emissions and put the country on track to meet Biden's pledge to cut the country's emissions roughly in half by 2030 and to reach net zero by 2050.
• The fossil fuel industry, power plant operators, and their supporters in Congress are likely to oppose the regulations. The Biden administration may face an immediate lawsuit from a group of Republican attorneys general that have already taken legal action on other climate policies.
• The proposed power plant rule will be subject to a public comment period and will likely not be finalized until next year. 

Do you support the EPA's proposed rule to cap power plant emissions?

-Jamie Epstein

(Photo credit: iStock/Ralf Geithe)