The Environmental Protection Agency sent its contentious emissions rules for existing power plants to the White House Friday for final review.
The stringent emission rules, known as the Clean Power Plan, are at the center of President Obama’s agenda to address the threat of climate change. Many scientists say manmade greenhouse gas emissions are causing the Earth’s climate to warm, resulting in severe weather, droughts and flooding.
The agency sent what will become its final regulations for the plan to the Office of Management and Budget to undergo one last review. After the review period, which could take 60 days, the Clean Power Plan will be published and will be law.
Sending the rules to OMB suggests the agency is on track to meet its mid-summer target for finishing the rules.
The rules have sparked fierce opposition to the administration’s climate strategy from states and the coal industry. A group of 14 states and coal companies sued the EPA over the legality of the rules in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
During oral arguments on April 16, judges were skeptical they could offer regulatory relief to states because the rules had not been made final. The D.C. Circuit can make a ruling only on cases where the regulation in question has been enacted.
Once the EPA plan makes it through the OMB process, observers say to expect a deluge of new lawsuits.
“We aren’t optimistic that OMB will be anything more than a rubber stamp for the EPA’s flawed plan that would jeopardize energy reliability in this country and raise electricity costs on those Americans who can least afford it,” said Laura Sheehan, senior communication director for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, representing the coal industry.
The industry argues that the rules’ aggressive timeline will force early retirements of coal-fired power plants.
“That’s why federal and state policymakers are joining industry to use every arrow in our quiver — including legislative and legal remedies — to stop the rule from going into effect,” Sheehan said.
EPA and the administration say the rule offers states a flexible means of complying with the rules that will not create reliability problems for the grid, and high costs for consumers.
Opponents argue that the rules are unprecedented because they direct states to reduce emissions, as opposed to individual power plants. Under the rules, states must begin submitting compliance plans to EPA one year after the rules are made final. The compliance plans must outline how each state will meet its individually-tailored emission reduction target.
Sheehan says the fact that the “EPA is rushing to get this rule out despite the long-term consequences it would have on American families and businesses is a disservice to the citizens they are supposed to serve and it must be stopped.”
“EPA’s plan would shutter coal energy in this country, a fuel source that provides 40 percent of our nation’s electricity powering factories, hospitals, schools, water treatment plants and homes,” the coal group argues.
Proponents of the rules say the Clean Power Plan will result in enormous health benefits by reducing greenhouse gases. The wind energy industry also argues that new technological advances will make renewable energy more available to states to comply with the rules.
Solar energy proponents say the costs of the technology have dropped exponentially in recent years, making the technology more economical for states to use in compliance.
