WASHINGTON — Coal-fired power plants would be forced to trap emissions from smokestacks or close them under a rule issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to cut planetary pollution from the energy sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to the climate change. The rules are a key part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution in the electricity sector by 2035 and across the economy by 2050.
The rule was one of four separate measures targeting coal and natural gas plants that the EPA said would provide “regular certainty” to the energy sector and encourage them to make investments in the transition “to a clean energy economy.” They also include requirements to reduce toxic wastewater pollutants from coal-fired power plants and to safely manage so-called coal ash in unlined storage ponds.
The new rules “will reduce pollution from fossil fuel power plants, protect communities from pollution and improve public health – while supporting the long-term, reliable supply of the electricity needed to keep America moving forward,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told me to reporters at a White House briefing.
The plan is likely to be challenged by industry groups and Republican states. They have repeatedly accused the Democratic administration of overreaching on environmental regulations and have warned of a looming reliability crisis for the power grid. The rules issued Thursday are among at least a half-dozen EPA rules that limit power plant emissions and wastewater pollution.
Environmental groups hailed the EPA’s latest action as urgently needed to protect against the devastating effects of climate change.
The power plant rule marks the first time the federal government has limited carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. The rule would also force future power plants powered by coal or gas to control up to 90% of their carbon pollution. The new standards will avoid 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047, equivalent to the annual emissions of 328 million gasoline cars, the EPA said, and will deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in climate and health benefits measured in fewer premature deaths. asthma cases and lost work or school days.
Coal-fired power plants that plan to stay open beyond 2039 would have to reduce or capture 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032, the EPA said. Plants expected to retire in 2039 would face a less stringent standard, but would still have to capture some of the emissions. Coal-fired power stations that retire in 2032 are not covered by the new rules.
Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said that through the latest rules, “the EPA is systematically dismantling the reliability of America’s electric grid.”
He accused Biden, Regan and other officials of “ignoring our energy realities and forcing the closure of well-functioning coal plants that repeatedly come to the rescue during times of peak demand.” The consequences of this reckless plan will be felt by all Americans across the country.”
Regan denied the rules were aimed at closing the coal sector, but acknowledged when he proposed the power station rule last year: “We will see some coal withdrawals.”
The proposal is based on carbon pollution mitigation technologies that the industry itself says are viable and available, Regan said. “Multiple energy companies have indicated that (carbon capture and storage) is a viable technology for today’s energy sector, and they are currently working on those CCS projects,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Coal provided about 16% of U.S. electricity last year, up from about 45% in 2010. Natural gas supplies about 43% of U.S. electricity, with the rest coming from nuclear power and renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydropower.
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 passing the Climate Act of 2022, officially known as the Inflation Reduction Act, he said, followed by separate EPA rules targeting tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks and methane emissions from oil and gas drilling.
Together, the climate law and the set of EPA rules represent “the largest reduction in carbon pollution we have ever achieved and will put the country on a path to net-zero carbon emissions,” Doniger said in an interview.
The country still faces challenges in eliminating carbon from transportation, heavy industry and more, says Abigail Dillen, president of the environmental group Earthjustice, “but we can’t make progress on any front without cleaning up the power plants.”
Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, called the EPA rule “unlawful, unrealistic and unfeasible,” adding that it faced some challenge from the courts. The rule ignores the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that limited the agency’s ability to regulate carbon pollution. Under the Clean Air Act, Matheson also relies on technologies “that are promising, but not yet ready for prime time,” he said.
“This barrage of new EPA regulations ignores our nation’s ongoing 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 in the represents the entire country.
The EPA rule would not require the use of carbon emissions capture and storage equipment — a technology that is expensive and still in development. Instead, the agency would set limits on carbon pollution that plant operators would have to meet. Some natural gas plants could start blending gas with other fuel sources that do not emit carbon, although specific measures would be left to the industry.
Still, the regulations are expected to lead to greater use of carbon capture equipment. Despite years of research, only a handful of projects are active in the country.
The EPA has also tightened regulations aimed at reducing wastewater pollution from coal-fired power plants and preventing damage from toxic pits containing coal ash, a waste byproduct of coal combustion.
Coal ash contains carcinogens such as arsenic and mercury that can leach into the soil, drinking water and nearby rivers and streams, harming people and killing fish. The waste is usually stored in ponds near power plants. EPA issued rules to regulate active and new ponds at operating facilities in 2015, seven years after a disaster in Kingston, Tennessee that flooded two rivers with toxic waste and destroyed property.
Environmental groups challenged that rule, arguing that it left a large amount of coal ash waste unregulated by the federal government. The rule issued Thursday forces owners to safely close inactive coal ash ponds and clean up pollution.
Federal officials say a separate rule will reduce toxic wastewater pollution by 660 million pounds annually. It is a reversal of the Trump administration’s push to relax wastewater standards for coal-fired power plants.
“For the first time, we have seen a comprehensive set of standards that protect surrounding waterways from the extremely nasty water pollution that comes from these coal-fired sites,” said Frank Holleman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Phillis in St. Louis contributed to this story.