NRDC: EPA’s Power Plant Carbon Standards Are Essential

WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency is on the right path with its proposed standards to cut carbon pollution from power plants, according to comments environmental groups submitted to the agency today.

The record heatwaves, fires, storms, and floods across the globe this year demonstrate the need for strong standards to cut carbon pollution from power plants, the nation’s second-largest source of those emissions. These EPA standards can achieve even greater emissions reductions and cost savings with some simple improvements.

“With the magnitude of the changes already underway in the power sector and the historic incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act, EPA’s proposed standards are modest and incremental,” said David Doniger, a senior strategic director at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “While the fundamental structure of the proposal is strong, key improvements can and should be made.”

The comments from NRDC and the Clean Air Task Force, joined by The Nature Conservancy, detail the strong legal basis for the standards, the changes already underway in the power sector that will aid compliance, and the ways in which the reliability of the grid can be maintained while implementing these rules.

The EPA is carrying out its long-standing legal obligation to curb power plants’ carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act. And the agency is following the clear pathway for using that authority set forth last year by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA and reinforced by Congress in the Inflation Reduction Act.

In addition, many electricity companies have set and are expected to meet corporate decarbonization commitments that exceed or are close to what this proposal would require.

"Fifty years of history show that the electric power industry’s nitpicking of EPA’s plan should be taken with a pinch of salt," Doniger said. “The electric power industry has a long track record of objecting to new pollution control requirements as they are proposed, but then outperforming those requirements once they are set."

NRDC and CATF proposed simple changes to EPA’s proposed standards for existing coal plants, new gas plants and existing gas plants. Making these changes would result in an additional 394 million short tons of carbon reductions from 2028-2042, a 46% improvement over the initial proposal – while also resulting in cost savings for the power sector of $20 billion over that same period.

“These changes will ensure that the largest power plants move more quickly and efficiently to address their carbon pollution,” said Amanda Levin, director of policy analysis at NRDC. “This results in more reductions in carbon and other harmful pollutants while saving power companies—and their customers—billions of dollars.”

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law, and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter