EPA releases revised carbon pollution proposal for new power plants

September 28 2013

EPA last month released a revised proposed rule that sets carbon emission limits for new power plants. The revised proposed rule is very similar to the original proposal the EPA released last summer (you can read the comments TAUC submitted on that proposal by clicking here).

Originally, EPA proposed an emissions limit for new coal-fired plants of 1,000 pounds of CO2 per megawatt hour. The revised proposal increases that limit slightly to 1,100 pounds per megawatt hour. This is still well below the average of 1,800-1,900 pounds per megawatt hour that the most efficient coal plants emit. The agency argues that new coal plants could meet the new limit by installing carbon capture and storage systems, but critics say CCS is an extremely expensive and commercially unproven technology.