New Trump power plant plan could increase CO2 emissions

• 5 years ago (2018-08-20)
• David Flin

Coal 274 North America 998

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President Trump of the USA is expected to announce a plan to empower states to establish emission standards for coal-fired power plants rather than speeding their retirement in a major overhaul of the Obama administration’s climate policy. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) own impact analysis projects that the proposal would only make slight cuts to overall emissions of pollutants over the next decade. The Obama rule would have made cuts that would have been larger by a factor of at least 12.

The EPA estimates that the proposal, which will be subject to a 60-day comment period, will affect over 300 US plants. According to EPA officials, by 2030, the proposal would cut CO2 emissions from 2005 levels by between 0.7-1.5 per cent. By comparison, the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan would have reduced CO2 emissions by around 19 per cent during the same time frame.

Under the EPA’s new plan, SO2 and NOx emissions would be cut by 1-2 per cent by 2030 compared to 2005. These would have been reduced by 24 per cent and 22 per cent respectively over the same time frame under the Clean Power Act.

Rather than identify specific targets and then task state officials with devising plans to meet them, the plan will define what constitutes the “best system of emission reduction” that utilities can undertake with technology that has been demonstrated to work. States will have three years to develop a plan. The EPA will then have one year to determine whether to approve a state’s plan. If the plan does not meet the EPA guidelines, then it will have another year to impose a Federal plan on the state.