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WASHINGTON — President Biden’s administration is poised to announce limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that could force them to take pollution out of their smokestacks, a technology currently used by fewer than 20 of the nation’s 3,400 coal and gas plants, according to three people familiar with the matter. given details of the rules.
If enacted, the proposed regulations would be the first time the federal government would limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which produce about 25 percent of the planet-warming pollution produced by the United States. This also applies to future plantings.
Almost all coal and gas-fired power plants must eliminate or capture almost all carbon dioxide emissions by 2040, according to people familiar with the regulations, who asked not to be identified because the rules have not yet been announced.
The proposed rule is sure to face opposition from the fossil fuel industry, power plant operators and their allies in Congress. It is likely to draw a direct legal challenge from a group of Republican attorneys general who have sued the Biden administration to end other climate policies. A future administration can also weaken regulation.
The regulations, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, are under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget, and are still subject to change.
Maria Michalos, spokeswoman for the EPA, said the agency is “moving quickly to advance standards that protect people and the planet, building on the momentum of President Biden’s Investing in America economic agenda, including proposals to address carbon emissions from new and existing power plants.”
It will not mandate the use of carbon capture equipment, a new and expensive technology; rather, it will set a cap on the level of pollution that plant operators will have to meet. They can do so by using different technologies or, in the case of gas plants, by switching to a fuel source like green hydrogen, which does not emit carbon, according to people familiar with the matter. But the regulation could lead to wider use of carbon capture technology, the people said.
Most of the electricity generated in the United States last year — about 60 percent — came from burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and petroleum, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The proposal comes after two other Biden administrations planned to dramatically reduce tailpipe emissions by accelerating the nation’s transition to electric vehicles, and curbing methane leaks from oil and gas wells.
If these three regulations are implemented as proposed, they will reduce the planet-warming pollution created by the world’s largest economy. Along with the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a law that allocates $370 billion to clean energy programs, they will make it possible for the country to meet Mr. Biden’s promise to cut the country’s emissions by about half by 2030, and stop increasing carbon dioxide. into the atmosphere by 2050.
That’s the kind of action all major industrialized countries need, scientists say, to keep average global temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), compared to pre-industrial levels. Beyond that point, the effects of catastrophic heat waves, floods, droughts, crop failures and species extinctions will become more difficult for humans to deal with. The planet has warmed by an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius.
Mr. Biden has said he is willing to use executive authority to act on global warming, a point he recently stressed after facing sharp criticism from environmentalists, particularly young climate activists, over his decision last month to approve a massive oil drilling project. in a pristine land in Alaska, known as Willow.
“We need to do more than recognize the climate challenges we face,” Mr Biden told other world leaders during a virtual meeting on Thursday to discuss climate and energy. “We are determined to strengthen our ambitions and our actions. And, yes, we are willing to do the hard work to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In loosening climate rules for power plants, Mr. Biden hopes to succeed where his former boss, President Barack Obama, failed. Nearly a decade ago, Mr. Obama tried to impose broad limits on power plant pollution that were first blocked by the Supreme Court and then rolled back by President Donald J. Trump. Last summer, the Supreme Court confirmed that the EPA has the authority to regulate carbon emissions from power plants but in a limited way.
But three factors have shaped the Biden administration. First, carbon capture technology has advanced since the Obama administration. Second, when Democrats passed the Inflation Reduction Act last year, they added language that classifies greenhouse gases as pollutants to be regulated by the EPA Finally, the new law gives tax credits to power plant operators that capture carbon, making the technology more affordable financially. .
Instead of creating one limit that all power plants must comply with, the EPA wants to be flexible, people familiar with the new plan said. It plans to set various targets based on the size of the plant, whether it runs regularly or intermittently, and whether it is scheduled to retire. Some coal plants slated to shut down in the next decade may not have to meet the new standards.
Patrick Morrisey, the attorney general of the Republic of West Virginia, a major coal-producing state, said on Friday that he and others were waiting to see Mr. Biden’s plan. “We are eager to review the new EPA proposed rules on power plants, and we will be ready once again to lead power in the fight against federal overreach,” he said in a statement.
Some environmental groups are also critical of carbon capture technology, arguing that it makes more sense to switch to wind, solar and other clean energy sources that don’t pollute in the first place.
Like the proposed regulations governing tailpipe and methane emissions from oil and gas facilities, the power plant rules will be subject to a public comment period and will not be finalized and implemented until next year.
The Biden administration is racing to implement a trio of proposed regulations before Republicans can have a chance to repeal them if they win control of Congress in 2024. Under the Congressional Review Act, the new Congress elected next November can go back and repeal agency regulations that expire within 60 days of The previous Congress.
The ban on emissions from cars, oil and gas facilities and power plants comes as Mr Biden prepares to announce his bid for re-election, when he needs young voters to help him win the White House in 2020.
In a virtual meeting on Thursday with other major economic leaders, Mr. Biden said he would seek $500 million from Congress to fight deforestation in the Amazon. On Friday, he signed an executive order creating the White House Office of Environmental Justice and requiring every federal agency to develop plans to address the disproportionate impacts of pollution and climate change on minority and tribal communities.
“Just since becoming president, I have flown through literally thousands of hectares of land burned flat by wildfire because of environmental change,” he told environmental activists at the Rose Garden ceremony, where he signed the order. “I have seen so many communities reduced to rubble as the storm grows in size and ferocity. This is an existential threat to our nation and literally to the world.
However, electric utilities have complained that any policy forcing them to install carbon capture technology would be too expensive, driving up energy costs for consumers.
A 2021 report by a group of 600 global investors, including BlackRock, State Street Global Advisors and top shareholders of US investor-owned utilities, said the high cost of carbon emissions “makes a risky and potentially expensive decarbonization strategy.”
But some experts say the situation around carbon capture technology has changed.
Once considered by many to be a boondoggle, the technology has matured. The Biden administration is investing billions in research and demonstration projects to further progress. And while there are only about 40 power plants with equipment worldwide, the number is increasing, albeit slowly. Calpine Corporation, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity from natural gas, is building a massive carbon capture and sequestration facility for its electricity generators in Deer Park, Texas.
The Inflation Reduction Act offers incentives to accelerate adoption. The legislation raises existing federal tax credits for electric utilities that capture carbon dioxide pollution from $85 to $135 per ton of carbon dioxide, from $30 to $50. That can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for major power companies.
“Until now, the power sector has not found it economical to build,” said Carrie Jenks, executive director of the Environmental and Energy Law program at Harvard. “But the IRA incentive is really reducing costs and making the economy viable. We see companies wanting to build.
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