May 11 (UPI) — The Environmental Protection Agency is set to impose increased carbon pollution standards that would slap new restrictions on coal and natural-gas power plants as the administration ramps up efforts to address climate change.
Under the new rules, power plants would be required to strengthen current performance standards for newly built gas-powered combustion turbines. The plan also calls for establishing emission guidelines for states to follow in limiting carbon pollution from coal, oil and natural gas-fired plants.
There would also be new emission guidelines for existing combustion turbines fired by natural gas.
“The proposed limits and guidelines would require ambitious reductions in carbon pollution based on proven and cost-effective control technologies that can be applied directly to power plants,” the EPA said.
The agency added that power plant owners would be given “ample lead time” to comply with the new federal rules, allowing for long-term planning and investment decisions.
It also anticipated minimal financial impact on the power companies while emphasizing that affordable utilities were critical to a stable economy.
The changes would bring an estimated $85 billion in health and environmental improvements to the country over the next two decades, while preventing up to 617 million metric tons of harmful carbon dioxides that have been shown to cause asthma and thousands of premature deaths, the EPA said.
The plan is expected to reduce annual emissions at a level equal to 137 million passenger vehicles, or roughly half the cars in the United States through 2042.
The EPA said the proposal would cut tens of thousands of tons of particulate matter in the atmosphere, including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, with a particular focus on implementing the policies in disadvantaged communities that “for too long have disproportionally shouldered the burden of high pollution and environmental injustice,” the agency said, reiterating President Joe Biden’s call last month for environmental justice for all Americans.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said the new standards deliver on the agency’s promise to “reduce harmful pollution that threatens people’s health and wellbeing” by seeking to curtail asthma attacks and deaths related to long-term pollution, while also reducing hospital and emergency room visits and frequent absences from work and school, especially in communities of color.
“EPA’s proposal relies on proven, readily available technologies to limit carbon pollution and seizes the momentum already underway in the power sector to move toward a cleaner future. Alongside historic investment taking place across America in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, these proposals will help deliver tremendous benefits to the American people-cutting climate pollution and other harmful pollutants, protecting people’s health, and driving American innovation,” Regan said.
Efforts to curtail the climate crisis have gained steam around the world, with numerous climate summits and Biden forming the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate in April 2021 to help galvanize the response.
In recent months, the Biden administration has acted with increased urgency to align with an international climate blueprint that seeks to reduce global warming by 1.5 degrees Celcius before the next century.
The latest effort comes after the president signed an executive order last month to protect vital resources in minority communities as part of a series of announcements on climate progress across the country.
Biden also announced $1 billion in April to help developing countries address emerging environmental concerns during a global climate forum at the White House.
Two years ago Biden pledged to quadruple U.S. climate support for developing countries to more than $11 billion a year by 2024, while the nation was on “a clear path” to achieving its climate goals due to Biden’s “all-hands-on-deck strategy for accelerating key clean energy technology innovations,” the White House said previously.
In April, the EPA proposed new limits on tailpipe emissions and a requirement that more than half of new vehicles manufactured in the U.S. be fully electric by 2032.
The EPA has also stepped up efforts to implement a national strategy to combat plastic pollution while overseeing dozens of clean water and air quality initiatives nationwide.
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