EPA mandates cuts in power plant emissions

The US Environmental Protection Agency released four final regulations on April 25 that, when implemented, will limit air and water pollution from fossil fuel–based power plants.

The regulations focus primarily on limiting carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired and new natural gas–fueled power plants. But they will also reduce mercury emissions by some 70%, cut pollutants in wastewater emissions from coal power plants, and improve the management of coal ash disposal sites.

To reach the new CO₂ emission levels, coal plant operators must turn to carbon capture and sequestration technologies, which the EPA calls proven and cost-effective controls that can be applied directly to power plants. These technologies have so far shown to be expensive and difficult to install at operating power plants, but federal government support for them continues to grow.

The regulations call for existing coal- and new gas-fired power plants to reduce CO₂ emissions by 90% by 2039. By 2032, the two kinds of power plants must begin compliance efforts, or shut down, under a complex phasing laid out in the regulations.

Environmental and health organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund and the American Lung Association, strongly support the regulations.

“The U.S. has been walking toward a safer climate and healthier air and today we broke into a run,” Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund, says in a statement. He adds that fossil fuel power is the largest source of US industrial pollution.

But Michelle Bloodworth, CEO of America’s Power, a US coal industry association, calls the four regulations “extreme and unlawful” in a statement.

She notes that utilities already plan to shut down 60,000 MW of coal-fired generation in the next 5 years, enough to power over 60 million homes. The new rules will accelerate coal retirements, she says.

The American Chemistry Council, a trade association, says the rules don’t directly affect the chemical industry but warns against energy mandates.

The EPA should instead encourage policies to support a “diverse portfolio of solutions, including carbon capture, natural gas, hydrogen, advanced nuclear, renewables, electrification, and more,” the council says in an email. “The administration’s focus should remain on reducing emissions, not options.”