EPA to unveil plan to block carbon emissions rules for power plants
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The Environmental Protection Agency is readying its next moves to thwart carbon emissions rules for power plants — and block a successor from creating new ones.
Why it matters: Generating electricity is the second-largest source of U.S. carbon emissions.
- And power demand has been rising in recent years, a sharp contrast to largely flat consumption from the mid-2000s to the early 2020s.
Driving the news: White House regulatory officials finished reviewing two related items on Friday, records show.
- One is a final rule to scuttle 2024 regulations. A draft of this in 2025 contemplated a finding that U.S. power plants don't contribute "significantly" to dangerous pollution.
- The other is an adjacent proposal about preventing CO2 standards for fossil fuel-powered plants.
What's next: The rollout could happen Monday on the sidelines of the G20 energy ministers' meeting in Houston, which runs through Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.
- EPA did not provide comment.
The big picture: Environmental attorneys expect EPA to formally conclude the Clean Air Act doesn't authorize direct regulation of power plants' CO2 emissions.
- EPA in February formally repealed the "endangerment finding" that greenhouse gases threaten humans, but that move technically applied only to motor vehicles.
- The new plans on power plants are "expected to mirror" the endangerment finding repeal, E&E News reports.
What they're saying: "So the two biggest slices of the U.S. carbon emissions are, together, still too small to matter? That's crazy. Like saying that over half of a super large pizza has no calories," David Doniger, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said via email.
The other side: Critics say Biden-era rules would have made it extremely hard to build large new gas-fired power plants, in addition to spurring retirement of existing coal-fired units.
- Former President Biden's standards relied on carbon capture tech that isn't commercially cost-effective at scale, they said.
- EPA head Lee Zeldin, in a statement alongside last year's proposal, accused Biden officials of trying to "regulate coal, oil and gas out of existence."
What we're watching: Any rules here are likely to be litigated once finalized. The endangerment finding repeal is currently in court.
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