EPA to set power plant emission limits

WASHINGTON DC - The Environmental Protection Agency said it would set standards for greenhouse gas emissions from the country's two biggest sources: coal-fired power plants and refineries.

Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, said it would be possible to hold down costs, add jobs and reduce overall emissions even as the plants continue to burn fossil fuels. She said it wasn't possible to estimate yet how much emissions would be reduced.

Scientists globally agree that heat-trapping gases are accumulating in the atmosphere mainly because of fossil-fuel use and that sharp cuts in emissions will be needed in the next few decades.

The EPA's new regulations are likely to have only a modest impact despite consensus that dramatic cuts are needed to lower the risks of dangerous climate shifts. A plan to impose mandatory reductions on emissions died in Congress last summer.

The EPA rule would set standards only for new plants and those that make major modifications.

Under a provision of the Clear Air Act, existing plants — about 500 coal-fired power plants and 150 refineries — would operate as usual until states impose their own regulations based on EPA guidelines. McCarthy said state regulations aren't expected until 2015 or 2016.

Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA air administrator in the Bush administration who's a lobbyist for the electric industry at Bracewell & Giuliani, predicts the standards will be delayed past the 2012 elections.

"They're out trying to reassure everybody this is going to be reasonable and no big deal," he said. "If that's what they do, then they're not going to be any reduction of emissions and they're going to make the environmental community upset."

Any meaningful restrictions on emissions would make energy costs rise, he said.

Related News

Kakrapar nuclear plant

India’s Kakrapur 3 achieves criticality

DELHI - Unit 3 of India’s Kakrapar nuclear plant in Gujarat achieved criticality on 22 July. It is India’s first indigenously designed 700MWe pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) to achieve this milestone.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated nuclear scientists, saying the reactor is a shining example of the 'Make in India' campaign and a trailblazer for many such future achievements. 

India developed its own nuclear power generation technology as it faced sanctions from the international community following its first nuclear weapons test in in 1974. It has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India has developed a three-stage nuclear programme based on…

READ MORE
carillon generating station

Hydro-Québec to Invest $750 Million in Carillon Generating Station

READ MORE

uk-energy-transition-stalled-by-supply-delays

UK's Energy Transition Stalled by Supply Delays

READ MORE

hong kong harbour

Hong Kong to expect electricity bills to rise 1 or 2 per cent

READ MORE

bc electricity demand graph

BC Hydro: 2021 was a record-breaking year for electricity demand

READ MORE