EPA Scraps Power Plant Carbon Limits, Erasing 1.38 Billion Tons of Projected Cuts
US Revokes Limits on Power Plants' Climate Pollution
The EPA has repealed the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, removing requirements that coal and new gas plants capture 90 percent of emissions or shut down by 2039. The Biden-era rule would have cut 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon through 2047 and prevented 1,200 deaths and 360,000 asthma attacks in 2035 alone. The agency claims $370 million in regulatory savings but ignores health costs, and now proposes eliminating all remaining greenhouse gas requirements for power plants.
In its announcement rescinding the 2024 carbon standards, the EPA also proposed removing “all remaining greenhouse gas emissions requirements for power plants,” arguing these emissions do not impact climate change.
- jmward01
There are a multitude of arguments against this:
- Investing in alternatives has led to massive new industry that is improving the economy of those countries that do it. If your argument is an economic one then jump onto the solar, wind and battery bandwagon.
- There are virtually no real short medium or long term gains economically here. Gas is the only thing still competitive with solar/wind and its costs are rising while solar and wind continue to fall. Building new maximum pollution plants would drop that internalized cost but who in their right mind would fund something so obviously DOA?
- Obviously the externalized costs of greenhouse gas emissions are deeply undervalued in this move. Even if they are 'fake news' in the US, the rest of the world is finally starting to take them seriously. The US's diminished soft power means it won't be able to easily bully the world into allowing it to pollute without consequence and such an obviously hostile move means it will loose even more of its soft power by taking this position. So on the international level this means we burn a lot of political capital and gain nothing but decades of distrust and anger.
- Current events show that energy security is dominated by decoupling from fossil fuels. This weakens the US strategically and continues to set it up to be manipulated by exceptionally hostile actors.
- Oh yeah and, of course, climate change is real.
This continues the US down the path of being the best buggy whip maker in the w […]
- markvdb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apr%C3%A8s_moi,_le_d%C3%A9luge
- reactordev
Full steam ahead towards greenhouse gases, climate change, and +5degree temperatures. Why not?
- phtrivier
From the wording, it's not clear if the ruling (from 2024) had any impact on power plant running today, or newly built one (it seems like it was mandating carbon capture eventually.)
The "good" news is that coal plants are already suboptimal, economically. This is delaying the closure of existing plans, which is just absurd, but completely on brand for the political party that people voted in office, with complete knowledge of what would happen.
I suppose they also voted for "cheaper groceries" and "no more endless wars", but that will come any time soon.
- tialaramex
I know HN has lots of American readers, so maybe they can explain.
Why aren't the vast majority of America's suburban single family dwellings using rooftop solar? Huge numbers of Americans live in these homes - they're not so much a thing, especially to this degree, in other countries and they seem basically ideal for rooftop solar.
Am I missing something here?
- infamia
This headline is rather sweeping considering the modest nature of the change, which is merely rolling back regulations to 2024 levels.
- deepfriedchokes
If everyone votes, this will be overturned in a couple years.
- eapressoandcats
The good news is the war with Iran has done more to curtail greenhouse gas emissions than basically anything domestically Trump can do.
Violently demonstrating the geopolitical liability of relying on Greenhouse Gasses is more compelling than more climate conferences apparently.