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Biden's scaled-back power rule raises doubts over US climate target

The Biden administration's choice to exclude the existing U.S. fleet of gas power plants from upcoming carbon emissions regulations raises questions over the nation's ability to fulfill its climate objectives, according to researchers.

Cleaning up the U.S. power market, source of about a. quarter of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, has been a. main plank of President Joe Biden's strategy to decarbonize. the country's economy by 2050 to counter worldwide warming.

But in an unusual move, the Environmental Protection Agency. late recently said it would take existing gas plants, which. account for over 40% of U.S. power sector carbon emissions, out. of the plan before finalizing the guideline-- a choice made after. months of intense market opposition.

Because the standards would not have actually begun up until after. 2030, the existing gas plant rule would have had a minimal. contribution to near-term targets. Minimizing emissions from. those plants would be crucial for U.S. environment objectives beyond. 2030, stated Ben King, an associate director with Rhodium Group's. energy and environment practice.

As soon as you mitigate a bunch or retire of emissions from the. coal fleet, then what you are left with in the power sector is a. lot of gas that you need to find out what to do with, he. said. Utilities and grid operators need to really begin. preparing for that now.

The EPA has said it plans to compose a separate guideline to cover. CO2 emissions from existing gas plants as well as other. hazardous air toxins after it finalizes the remainder of the. regulation later this spring, however did not provide a particular. timeline.

The process of composing and finalizing a brand-new guideline often takes. over a year and the firm faces the diversion of a looming. basic election in November. If President Joe Biden loses his. quote for a 2nd term to Republican competing Donald Trump, the. effort would likely be abandoned.

The Trump administration showed massive hostility to. environmental managements for American communities when they. were in power, Trevor Higgins, senior vice president for energy. and environment at the left-wing think tank Center for American. Progress, said.

They plan to roll back and halt environment policy throughout the. board.

Natural gas plants account for 43% of power sector. greenhouse gas emissions, according to EPA's latest figures, and. are on track to change coal as the industry's largest source of. emissions in 2028, according to the Energy Info. Administration.

The proposition stripped from the power guideline would have. needed big gas-fired plants to install carbon capture. devices by 2035, or co-fire with 30% hydrogen by 2032. The. power industry called the proposition unworkable.

EPA approximated when it at first revealed the plan that the. part of the policy that covered existing gas plants would. cause a cut of in between 214 million and 407 million metric heaps. of carbon dioxide in between 2028 and 2042-- the equivalent of. around 6% of total U.S. CO2 emissions in a year.

UNCOMMON PROCESS

The EPA's proposal disturbed the U.S. power market right from. the start, in part because energies had actually not expected existing. gas plants would be consisted of.

EPA staff had worked for months on a proposed rule covering. coal and new gas plants only, but existing gas plants were included. following a White House review, weeks before the May release,. according to regulatory documents.

The White House and EPA declined to comment on the reason. for the last-minute addition.

Market groups in addition to some ecological justice. advocates later on argued the proposals for existing gas plants. could backfire by leading utilities to rely on smaller sized, dirtier. plants that fall outside the policy in order to avoid expensive. upgrades to larger generators.

An EPA spokesperson acknowledged imperfections of the rule.

The 2023 proposition for existing gas-fired power plants. focused only on large baseload natural gas-fired power plants,. Considered a limited range of innovation alternatives, and. consisted of different analyses of offered technical info at. the time to support different parts of the proposition, EPA. spokesperson Tim Carroll said.

(source: Reuters)