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The EPA Wants to Roll Back Emissions Controls on Power Plants
Days after NOAA released figures showing the highest seasonal concentration of CO2 in recorded history, the EPA moved to roll back emission standards for power plants. "The EPA is trying to get out of the climate change business,” says one expert.
Among a swath of justifications for rolling back regulations, the proposed new EPA rule argues that because US power sector emissions accounted for only 3 percent of global emissions in 2022 —down from 5.5 percent in 2005—and because coal use from other countries continues to grow, US electricity generation from fossil fuel “does not contribute significantly to globally elevated concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere.” However, electric power generation , according to the EPA, making it second only to transportation among the dirtiest sectors of the economy. Zeldin and lawmakers who spoke on Tuesday praised the original MATS rule, portraying the 2024 update as an overreach by the Biden administration that imposed undue costs on the fossil fuel industry. Earlier this year, Zeldin said that the agency would look to target the endangerment finding, a key determination made by the EPA in 2009 that defined greenhouse gases as dangerous to public health and welfare.
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