EPA sets first ever curbs on power plant pollution
Source: Reuters
(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Friday unveiled new regulations setting strict limits on the amount of carbon pollution that can be generated by any new U.S. power plant, which are certain to face legal challenges and a backlash from congressional supporters of the coal industry.
The Environmental Protection Agency's long-awaited guidelines are expected to make it more difficult for new coal-fired power plants to be built.
The rules, which are a revision of a previous attempt by the EPA to create emissions standards for fossil fuel plants, are the first salvo in President Barack Obama's climate change package, announced in June.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will discuss the new rules and defend Obama's climate plan, which opponents in Congress say amounts to a "war on coal," during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday morning.
In a column in the Huffington Post on Friday that also previewed many details of the plan, McCarthy said that without steps to minimize carbon pollution "we will continue to pay an ever-increasing price for climate impacts."
"We know that carbon pollution is the most prevalent heat-trapping greenhouse gas, warming our planet and fueling climate change," McCarthy said.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-usa-energy-emissions-idUSBRE98J03A20130920
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