US Revokes Limits on Power Plants' Climate Pollution
3 hours ago
- The EPA repealed the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards that required coal and gas plants to capture 90% of carbon emissions or shut down by 2039.
- The repeal eliminates most limits on power plant carbon emissions, representing a major attack on climate action.
- The 2024 standards would have reduced carbon pollution by 1.38 billion metric tons by 2047 and prevented 1,200 deaths and 360,000 asthma attacks in 2035 alone.
- Human Rights Watch documented how coal plant pollution harms nearby communities, citing examples in Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Türkiye.
- The EPA claimed $370 million in regulatory cost savings but ignored public health costs, and earlier stopped factoring health costs into economic impact estimates.
- The EPA also proposed removing all greenhouse gas requirements for power plants and revoked the 2009 endangerment finding linking emissions to climate change.
- The article calls for restoring the 2024 standards and strengthening fossil fuel regulation.