Trump administration replaces Obama-era power plant rule, in boost to coal

The Trump administration finalized a new carbon emissions rule for U.S. power plants on Wednesday that it said could cut pollution without damaging the coal industry, replacing a much tougher Obama-era version to fight climate change.

The move was a boost to coal companies facing tough competition from natural gas, solar and wind energy suppliers, but infuriated environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers who said the regulation was too weak to significantly reduce emissions and would put public health at risk.

The so-called Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule gives states three years to devise their own plans to cut emissions mainly by encouraging coal-fired power plants to improve their efficiency, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

“Our ACE rule will incentivize new technology which will ensure coal plants will be part of a cleaner future,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at an event at agency headquarters attended by coal state lawmakers, White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and a dozen coal miners in uniform.

The ACE sets guidelines for states to develop performance standards for power plants to boost the amount of power produced relative to the amount of coal burned. It listed six existing “candidate technologies” plants can use to do so, including duct leakage control and boiler feed pumps.

Obama’s Clean Power Plan, by contrast, had aimed to slash power plant carbon emissions by more than a third from 2005 levels by 2030 by pushing utilities to drop coal in favor of cleaner fuels like natural gas, solar and wind.

That regulation was never enacted because of lawsuits by Republican states. It was stayed by the Supreme Court in 2016.Wheeler said the ACE was written “within the four corners of the Clean Air Act” by confining reduction requirements directly on power plants, not allowing a more systemwide approach.

“States will be given the flexibility to design a plan that best suits their citizens environmental and energy needs,” according to a summary of the rule, which estimated a cut in carbon emissions of 35% from 2005 levels by 2030. Read more

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