EPA scraps power plant emissions limits in sweeping rollback

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Set us as preferred The U.S.Environmental Protection Agency said Monday it will no longer regulate dangerous planet-warming pollution from power plants that burn coal or natural gas.The nation’s top environmental authority is rolling back the majority of Biden-era limits on greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to remove “red tape” that drives up energy costs, agency officials said.

They simultaneously announced a proposal to rescind all greenhouse gas emissions regulations on the power sector, including those from the Obama era, and prevent future administrations from implementing new ones.Coal and gas power plants are the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.and the leading driver of human-caused climate change globally.“For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.

“The Trump Administration has come in to protect American energy and to make sure you can afford to keep the lights on.”But experts say unchecked greenhouse gas emissions from power plants mean more global warming and set back progress on climate change across the U.S.California maintains its own regulations on the sector.

The rollback could result in as much as 5.8 billion metric tons of added carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, according to Zealan Hoover, a former senior advisor to the EPA administrator during the Biden administration.While electricity demand is rising, “we do not have to meet that electricity demand by highly polluting coal and gas plants,” Hoover said.

“And when we do run coal and gas plants, we have the option to hold them to a high public health standard.This administration is choosing to cut those standards.” Climate & Environment The 2009 endangerment finding ...