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June 19, 2019

EPA rolls back Obama-era plan limiting coal-fired power plant emissions

By Ellie Kaufman | CNN

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday said states can set their own carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants -- a rule that the agency itself says could result in 1,400 more premature deaths by 2030 than the Obama-era plan it will replace.

The move fulfills part of President Donald Trump's promise to help the coal industry, but will likely face court challenges from environmental groups and several states who see the rollback as detrimental to clean air and efforts to fight the climate crisis.

Former President Barack Obama's plan, if implemented, would have prevented 3,600 premature deaths a year, 1,700 heart attacks and 90,000 asthma attacks, according to analysis conducted by the EPA under his tenure.

The Obama Clean Power Plan was set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to the climate crisis, by up to 32% compared to 2005 levels by the same year.

In an initial announcement about the proposal last summer, the Trump EPA labeled Obama's plan as "overly prescriptive and burdensome." Instead, the administration says the plan rule "instead empowers states, promotes energy independence, and facilitates economic growth and job creation," the release states.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at the time the Obama Clean Power Plan "exceeded the agency's legal authority" and he argued that the old regulations led to rising energy prices, which have "hurt low- and middle-income Americans the most."

Obama's Clean Power Plan was challenged by several lawsuits from industry groups and conservative-led states. In 2016, the Supreme Court blocked the regulation, but some plants had already started to work on reducing pollution.

The new plan, which EPA is calling the Affordable Clean Energy rule, is designed to boost the struggling coal industry but also likely increase carbon emissions nationwide. EPA argues that any comparison to the Obama rule is incongruous because it was never implemented.

But it's unclear how much the industry can benefit, as it faces competition from cheap natural gas and renewable sources. US coal consumption has plunged 39% to the lowest level in 40 years, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

At a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing last week about the direction of the EPA, former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy -- who finalized the Clean Power Plan under Obama -- said she believes the proposed Affordable Clean Energy rule, as well as other proposed rules the agency has made since Trump took office, undermines "the science and the law in how they're trying to roll back those rules."

"I do not dispute any administration coming in with different policies, but the challenge I think we're facing is they are really changing the rules of the road and not using sound science," McCarthy said. "They are not looking at cost benefits. They are trying to inflate the cost and lower the benefits in order to justify rules that simply don't make sense under the law."

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