The EPA’s Power Plant Carbon Rules Can Be Built to Last

The EPA has a firm legal basis for strong power sector standards that will accelerate the sector’s ongoing reduction of carbon pollution and help meet the urgent threat of climate change

Credit:

Eric Vance / EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to propose new standards for carbon pollution from power plants in the coming weeks. These standards have been delayed and challenged for years but the EPA has the authority to set such standards, as articulated by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA and by Congress in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. 

Setting effective, affordable power plant carbon standards under the Clean Air Act now will hold the power industry accountable for its pollution and deliver the emission reductions needed to help avert the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

Given the Supreme Court decision, NRDC is encouraging the EPA to set standards for both new and existing coal and gas plants based on the emission reductions that can be achieved through carbon capture and storage technology. Once the standards are set, states and companies will be able to use any number of technologies and strategies to cut carbon pollution. These carbon power plant standards will reinforce the changes already underway in the industry, helping to deliver a cleaner grid that saves consumers money and grows the economy.

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