A rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency would force power plants fueled by coal or natural gas to capture smokestack emissions or shut down.

Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. The rules are a key part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050.

The rule was among four separate measures targeting coal and natural gas plants that the EPA said would provide “regular certainty” to the power industry and encourage them to make investments to transition “to a clean energy economy.” They also include requirements to reduce toxic wastewater pollutants from coal-fired plants and to safely manage so-called coal ash in unlined storage ponds.

  • Flying Squid
    15•7 months ago

    That’s exactly it. It guts the power of agencies like the EPA.

    • Buelldozer
      5•7 months ago

      That’s the exact opposite of what Chevron Deference does!

      In a nutshell Chevron Deference means that when a law is silent or ambiguous on a technical matter that the court will defer to the responsible agencies interpretation of that law instead of substituting their own.

      For example Chevron Deference is what empowered the EPA to even try and regulate CO2 emissions since the laws they operate under don’t specifically address it. Without Chevron they couldn’t even have started.

      • Flying Squid
        4•7 months ago

        That’s what I was saying. SCOTUS getting rid of Chevron will gut the power of the EPA.

        • Buelldozer
          5•7 months ago

          Your response was unclear, at least to me, since it looked like you were replying to the other persons question about what Chevron does, not what removing it would do.

          I recognize your username and you’re generally pretty well informed so I was surprised at how off the mark you seemed to be on this.

            • Buelldozer
              3•7 months ago

              I’m not sure you were unclear, it could just be me reading it wrong.

              • Flying Squid
                3•7 months ago

                It doesn’t matter either way, it got cleared up and we’re on the same page.

              • proleEnglish
                1•7 months ago

                No, I read it wrong too. I honestly think they should edit their comment to clarify.

    • @disguy_ovahea
      4•7 months ago

      “Just trust us to do the right thing.” -Chevron Inc.

    • proleEnglish
      3•7 months ago

      To be clear (because I’d say this comment is a bit ambiguous), removing Chevron deference guts the power of agencies like the EPA.