EPA rolls back Obama-era plan limiting coal-fired power plant emissions

[Dennis Donovan]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN)The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said states can set their own carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants -- a rule that the agency itself says could result in 1,400 more premature deaths by 2030 than the Obama-era plan it will replace.

The move fulfills part of President Donald Trump's promise to help the coal industry, but will likely face court challenges from environmental groups and several states who see the rollback as detrimental to clean air and efforts to fight the climate crisis.

Former President Barack Obama's plan, if implemented, would have prevented 3,600 premature deaths a year, 1,700 heart attacks and 90,000 asthma attacks, according to analysis conducted by the EPA under his tenure.

The Obama Clean Power Plan was set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to the climate crisis, by up to 32% compared to 2005 levels by the same year.

In an initial announcement about the proposal last summer, the Trump EPA labeled Obama's plan as "overly prescriptive and burdensome." Instead, the administration says the plan rule "instead empowers states, promotes energy independence, and facilitates economic growth and job creation," the release states.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at the time the Obama Clean Power Plan "exceeded the agency's legal authority" and he argued that the old regulations led to rising energy prices, which have "hurt low- and middle-income Americans the most."

</snip>

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/politics/epa-rolls-back-obama-coal-emissions/index.html?adkey=bn

---

[underpants]

1. Oops I duped you. This is just sad.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Sad, but par for the course for the Trump admin...

[Traildogbob]

3. Who hurts??

Of course lung cancer does not hurt low income families the most.....no insurance.......pre-existing.......dropped for illness. A few dollars more per month for coal to clean up vs many hundreds of thousands for cancer treatment and long term care for family that then die after all the expenses. MAGA, damn that black guy that wanted cleaner air. How many GOP congress people live near coal plants????

[karynnj]

4. Given that there is an election in 2020, I wonder how businesses will actually react

Replacing a power plant or changing its fuel is a long term decision. If you were a CEO, would you make the decision to build a coal plant or change plans to build a cleaner plant if they already exist? I also wonder if between court cases and state regulatory processes how long it would take to actually change the regulations.

This is a terrible decision and will have real effects -- however, those affects become enormously worse if Trump is reelected. This is another example of why 2020 is essential.

[Hestia]

5. Okay, why? To prop up WY? Large C-PS are due to retire this year and next

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_power_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_coal_power_stations_in_the_United_States

As of July 7, 2011, utility companies will shut down and retire aging coal-fired power plants following the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) announcement of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAP).[16] The extent of shutdowns and reduction in utilization will depend on factors such as future price of natural gas and cost of installation of pollution control equipment; however, as of 2013, the future of coal-fired power plants in the United States did not appear promising.[17][18] Recent estimates gauge that an additional 40 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired capacity will retire by 2020 (in addition to the nearly 20GW that have retired as of 2014). This is driven most strongly by inexpensive natural gas competing with coal, and EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which require significant reductions in emissions of mercury, acid gases, and toxic metals, scheduled to take effect in April 2015.[19] Over 13 GW of coal power plants built between 1950-70 were retired in 2015, averaging 133 MW per plant.[20] In Texas, the price drop of natural gas has reduced the capacity factor in 7 of the state's coal plants (max. output 8 GW), and they contribute about a quarter of the state's electricity.[21]

[Maxheader]

6. "states can set their own carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants"

That could backfire on the wingers...People, IMHO, will more readily relate to
state level damaging legislation than at the fed level...And the ballot box is
an easily used tool to let the state weinys know that..An awareness of
airborne pollutants for this country full of emphysema and asthma can
force higher air quality standards..not lower them.

Respiratory diseases are leading causes of death and disability in the world. About 65 million people suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 3 million die from it each year, making it the third leading cause of death worldwide.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. In completely unrelated news:

https://apnews.com/d3515b79af1246d08f7978f026c9092b

US air quality is slipping after years of improvement

BY SETH BORENSTEIN and NICKY FORSTER

June 18, 2019

After decades of improvement, America’s air may not be getting any cleaner.

Over the last two years the nation had more polluted air days than just a few years earlier, federal data shows. While it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a trend, health experts say it’s troubling to see air quality progress stagnate.

There were 15% more days with unhealthy air in America both last year and the year before than there were on average from 2013 through 2016, the four years when America had its fewest number of those days since at least 1980.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed just the opposite, saying earlier this month in Ireland: “We have the cleanest air in the world, in the United States, and it’s gotten better since I’m president.”

[Vegas Roller]

8. Pretty much a useless move

The industry is not going to spend money to bring coal back in case Trump loses in 2020 and the next POTUS reverses.

They have already spent billions in going away from coal and they won't go back.