EPA Releases Rules That Threaten Coal-Fired Power Plants, Warning Of Increased Energy Costs

Per Just the News:

The technology captures carbon dioxide emissions from the plant and then transports them for storage in underground wells. The costs of the EPA’s demands will likely be so high that owners of coal-fired power plants will choose to retire them rather than invest in the changes.

Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, told Just the News:

Aside from the obvious impacts of driving up costs while further destabilizing America’s already rickety electricity grid by eliminating critical baseload power, EPA’s ill-intentioned and legally questionable rules package will seriously impact our state’s people.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said:

Today, EPA is proud to make good on the Biden-Harris Administration’s vision to tackle climate change and to protect all communities from pollution in our air, water, and in our neighborhoods.

Further:

By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans.

The Regime’s National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said:

This year, the United States is projected to build more new electric generation capacity than we have in two decades—and 96 percent of that will be clean.

Axios reported:

As they impose new mandates, Biden officials are emphasizing financial carrots (like tax credits in the 2022 climate law) and other complementary policies to ease the deployment of climate-friendly power.

The Energy Department is also completing rules to boost interagency coordination on transmission permitting and paring back reviews needed for projects on existing rights of way.

Activists generally cheered the new climate and environmental rules. However, views differ on the decision to defer CO2 emissions from current gas-fired power plants to a subsequent plan.

The World Wildlife Fund called this ‘deeply concerning’ and said it leaves ‘significant uncertainty.’

Meanwhile, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the CO2 rule will ‘significantly restrict electricity supply’ even as more power is needed to meet rising demand from data centers, manufacturing and more.

However, Axios noted the agency’s overreaching power plant CO2 rules could face court challenges.

The EPA rules include:

• A final rule for existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants that would ensure that all coal-fired plants that plan to run in the long-term and all new baseload gas-fired plants control 90 percent of their carbon pollution.
• A final rule strengthening and updating the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for coal-fired power plants, tightening the emissions standard for toxic metals by 67 percent and finalizing a 70 percent reduction in the emissions standard for mercury from existing lignite-fired sources.
• A final rule to reduce pollutants discharged through wastewater from coal-fired power plants by more than 660 million pounds per year, ensuring cleaner water for affected communities, including communities with environmental justice concerns that are disproportionately impacted.
• A final rule that will require the safe management of coal ash that is placed in areas that were unregulated at the federal level until now, including at previously used disposal areas that may leak and contaminate groundwater.

Final thoughts: This is another instance of the Illegitimate Regime pushing the envelope to force court action, i.e., they know this is unconstitutional but they do it anyway and force Conservatism to jump through hoops to get a court to shoot it down. Forced restitution and indictments for violating oaths of office and the constitution would send an appropriate message.