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This week, we’re diving into one of the Biden administration’s biggest climate moves yet: New regulations that could force coal plants to shut down.
The U.S. EPA finalized four rules last week affecting natural gas and coal power plants. One of them marks the first time the federal government has ever forced existing coal plants to reduce their carbon emissions. If plants want to stay open past 2032, they’ll need to install carbon capture technology — which is still in development and expensive.
When the EPA first proposed these rules, they also targeted existing gas plants, but those were removed from the final edition. E&E News suggests they could face strict regulations if President Biden is re-elected.
Another rule looks to crack down on mercury emissions from power plants that burn lignite, a low-energy, highly polluting type of coal.
And the last two rules have big implications for something we’ve followed closely at the Energy News Network: coal ash. This byproduct of burning coal contains toxins like mercury and arsenic, and it’s often stored in landfills and ponds at coal plants, putting it at risk of contaminating groundwater. A loophole in federal rules has long let power plant operators avoid responsibility for cleaning up the ash, but as Kari Lydersen reports, advocates expect these new rules to help bring accountability for pollution at hundreds of sites.
— Kathryn Krawczyk
More clean energy news
☀️ Solar trade tension: The two biggest U.S. solar panel manufacturers and a group of suppliers petition the federal government to establish new tariffs on panels from southeast Asian countries, diverging from many solar developers who say they rely on low-cost foreign panels. (Canary Media)
🌬️ Wind meets hydrogen: The Interior Department announces 12 offshore wind lease opportunities off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the Gulf of Mexico, which the DOI says could be used to generate clean power to produce hydrogen. (The Hill, S&P Global)
💻 A reason to work from home: Companies’ return-to-office plans are often out of line with their own climate pledges, as multiple peer-reviewed studies find working from home can significantly reduce a worker’s emissions impact. (Grist/Fast Company)
🏭 Global coal phaseout: G7 countries, including the U.S., agree to phase out coal in the early 2030s in a move aimed at pushing other countries to do the same. (CNN)
🔥 Something’s in the air: Nearly 40% of U.S. residents were exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution last year, an increase from the year before thanks to wildfires and extreme heat. (Guardian)
📄 Permitting gets a fast lane: The U.S. Energy Department rolls out a streamlined federal transmission permitting program meant to speed the lengthy grid interconnection process, while the White House unveils new federal permitting rules designed to prioritize projects with environmental benefits. (E&E News, New York Times)
🌽 Solar’s growing on farmland: While a federal database shows around 0.02% of U.S. cropland is used for large solar projects, an analysis of four Midwest counties reveals much higher penetrations, worrying some farmers and advocates. (Reuters)
🧩 Wind’s compact footprint: Wind turbines only take up about 5% of the land where they’re built, meaning there’s room to co-locate farms and other facilities around them, a peer-reviewed study finds. (Washington Post)
🔌 Curb your charging: A startup develops a technology that can uses streetlights’ connections to the power grid to equip them with curbside electric vehicle chargers. (Canary Media)
🦺 A pipeline to risk: Despite carbon capture pipeline ruptures in Mississippi and Louisiana, fossil fuel companies lobby federal regulators to scale back safety rules so they can build projects more quickly. (The Lever)
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