The Obama administration said Sunday it will relax climate rules for new coal plants, but will continue to require utilities to use a new technology that critics say is unproven and not commercially available.
The technology, called carbon capture and storage technology, is “employed with a lower capture rate” in the final version of the rules to be issued Monday, said Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy in a call with reporters.
“[Th]e actual amount of capture has been lowered … but [carbon capture and storage] will be required for coal units,” she said, adding that “natural gas will have similar requirements for what was proposed.”
The changes pertain to EPA’s New Source rules for new power plants, which will be issued Monday with President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The New Source rules set emission standards for new power plants, while the Clean Power Plan regulates existing generators. Under the Clean Air Act, one cannot be issued without the other.
McCarthy’s comments suggest that EPA will require less carbon to be captured using the technology than what was originally proposed. She did not give specifics. Carbon capture and storage takes carbon emitted by a power plant and injects it underground.
Republicans and some Democrats call the New Source rule a ban on building new coal plants, and have been arguing for months for EPA to relax the emission requirements by eliminating the carbon capture requirements.
They argue that carbon capture and storage technologies are not yet commercial, and the rule should be changed to include a readily available technology.
The coal industry had argued that “supercritical” or “ultra supercritical” coal technologies be made the standard for regulating emissions under the rules. These technologies burn coal at much higher temperatures than conventional plants to limit pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and can be upgraded more easily to include carbon capture once it is commercial.
