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EPA Considers Regulating Carbon Emissions from Coal Plants
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem Feb 17, 2009 06:35pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Wednesday, February 18, 2009 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 17, 2009; 2:53 PM
The Environmental Protection Agency today said it would reopen the possibility of regulating carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants, tossing aside a December Bush administration memorandum that said the agency would not limit those emissions.
The decision could mark the first step toward the regulation of greenhouse gases emitted by coal plants, an issue that has been hotly contested by the coal industry and environmentalists since April 2007, when the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide should be considered a pollutant subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.
The industry has vigorously opposed efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, asserting that this should be left to policy set by Congress. Moreover, current technology for capturing carbon dioxide emissions is expensive and virtually untested.
Environmental groups, however, say that building new coal plants with conventional technology locks in new greenhouse gas emissions for the entire 30- to 40-year lifetimes of the power plants, making it difficult to slow climate change. They have been urging the Obama administration and state governments to use the Supreme Court ruling to block air permits for new coal-fired power plants and rely on renewable energy and energy efficiency to meet power needs. |
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