Global Courant 2023-05-11 14:00:24
The Biden administration unveiled long-awaited regulations targeting emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants in a move it said would improve public health but lead to higher electricity prices.
The new carbon pollution standards — published Thursday morning by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — would primarily affect coal and natural gas-fired power plants, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 617 million tons through 2042, the equivalent carbon footprint of 137 million tons. million passenger cars, according to the bureau.
EPA’s regulations are expected to have “climate and health benefits” worth $85 billion and reduce the amount of air pollutants and soot in the air.
“By proposing new standards for fossil fuel-fired power plants, EPA is fulfilling its mission to reduce harmful pollution that threatens people’s health and well-being,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “EPA’s proposal is based on proven, readily available technologies to mitigate carbon pollution and seizes the momentum already underway in the energy sector to move toward a cleaner future.”
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Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan said Thursday the proposal would “reduce harmful pollution that threatens people’s health and well-being.” (AP Photo / Matt Freed)
The announcement acknowledged that the standards require “ambitious reductions in carbon pollution,” but stated that those reductions can be achieved by energy companies with proven and cost-effective control technologies applied directly to power plants with a negligible impact on retail electricity prices. The EPA particularly praised the costly carbon capture and clean hydrogen technology.
However, according to the EPA’s regulatory impact analysis of the standards, the rules are projected to increase retail electricity prices by 2% by 2030 and prices of natural gas supplied to the electricity industry to increase by an average of 9% across the country by 2030. The Henry Hub spot price, widely regarded as the benchmark tool to measure the U.S. natural gas market, is expected to rise 10% over the same period.
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While the standards affect both coal and natural gas plants, the impact analysis submitted would see the coal industry bear the brunt. Under the proposal, the EPA said U.S. electricity generation from coal-fired plants with no carbon capture will decline 67% by 2030 and 100% by 2035, while coal-fired plants with carbon capture will cut 29% and 13%, respectively.
“Coal-fired power plants are one of our most reliable and affordable sources of electricity,” Michelle Bloodworth, the president and CEO of America’s Power, a coal trading group, said in a statement Thursday. “Unfortunately, the EPA’s proposed carbon rule is at least the third rule EPA has issued in less than two years that is specifically designed to cause the premature shutdown of coal plants.”
“The proposal raises a number of critical legal questions, including whether EPA has the authority to enforce the use of technologies that are not economically or technically viable for widespread use,” Bloodworth continued. “One of the consequences of shutting down coal plants prematurely is to increase the risk of blackouts.”
A coal power plant is pictured near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Bloodworth added that the EPA should amend its proposal to prevent premature coal retirements rather than “accelerate retirement and jeopardize grid reliability.”
She noted that all four members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently raised concerns about the early retirement of coal-fired power generation, at a Senate hearing. Commissioner James Danly said he feared the consequences of forced retirement “will be catastrophic”.
And in December, North American Electric Reliability Corporation — an independent organization that monitors the national power grid and makes periodic recommendations to improve reliability — said much of the country was facing high or increased risk of capacity shortfalls due to early shutdowns. fossil fuel exits.
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In all, there are 3,393 fossil fuel-fired power plants nationwide, most of which are natural gas plants, according to the most recent federal data. Those plants generate more than 60% of the country’s electricity, compared to the roughly 14% of electricity generated by wind and solar projects.
However, EPA data shows that the electricity sector is responsible for about 25% of total US emissions, placing it behind only the transportation sector and slightly ahead of the industrial sector, making the sector a target of Democrats and environmental groups.
President Biden aims to create a carbon-free energy sector by 2035. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“The EPA’s proposed rule requiring unnecessary carbon capture on existing coal and gas-fired power plants extends beyond even the Clean Power Plan was,” said Jason Isaac, an energy expert with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, ahead of the EPA’s announcement . “Carbon capture technologies are so expensive that the result will be the sudden retirement of reliable generation, and there will be nothing to replace it.”
“This is a prime example of an unelected executive agency gone berserk, with a deliberate agenda to phase out fossil fuels and control how we produce and consume energy, regardless of cost or impact, while doing nothing to mitigating climate change.” Isaac added.
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The proposal is also likely to face legal challenges from Republican-led states and industry groups. The US Supreme Court reigned in June 2022 that an Obama-era rule limiting power plant emissions under the Clean Air Act was unconstitutional, since Congress never gave the EPA explicit authority to enact such regulations.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Manchin, DW.Va., who has a leading voice in the Senate where Democrats hold a narrow 51-49 majority, said Wednesday that he would withdraw support from all of President Biden’s EPA candidates if he went further. go with an aggressive version of the rule.
Regan will officially unveil the rules at an event in Maryland, where he will be joined by climate activists and lawmakers.
Thomas Catenacci is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
