CATF to EPA: Strong technical record and legal foundation require EPA to regulate carbon pollution from power plants under the Clean Air Act
WASHINGTON – Clean Air Task Force (CATF), along with partner organizations, submitted comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to its proposed repeal of the carbon pollution standards for existing coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants.
“EPA has the responsibility – and the legal obligation – to reduce pollution that warms the planet and harms human health, which is exactly what the agency did when it finalized power plant carbon standards last year,” said Frank Sturges, attorney at CATF. “Eliminating these rules ignores the facts: pollution from power plants contributes significantly to climate change that harms public health. Power plants are the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., accounting for a quarter of emissions. And the harms from climate change – from increased dust and wildfire smoke to stronger heat waves – are clear. If EPA finalizes this repeal, power plants would continue to spew greenhouse gases completely unregulated, threatening public health and driving up electricity costs.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way. We have the technology to achieve significant emissions reductions while providing Americans with reliable and affordable electricity. Carbon capture systems – which use a type of pollution scrubber like those EPA has been relying on in pollution limits for decades – can reduce emissions at a reasonable cost, and the technical record has only gotten stronger since EPA correctly reached that determination. Now hellbent on advancing a deregulatory agenda on political grounds, EPA completely ignores its own factual findings, disregards scientific evidence, and relies on unreasonable assumptions. But the law and science cannot be politicized – EPA has the statutory duty to regulate industries that significantly contribute to air pollution, and the standards currently in place are achievable. There is only one thing EPA can do to comply with the law – withdraw the proposed repeal.”
The proposed repeal includes both a primary and alternative rationale. The primary rationale proposes to reinterpret the phrase “contributes significantly” in Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. Comments addressing the primary rationale from CATF, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), and Earthjustice are here.
The alternative proposal would rescind the 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards based on new findings about the adequate demonstration of certain pollution control systems and achievability of standards based on them. CATF and NRDC submitted comments on the portion related to carbon capture and storage, which can be found here. CATF, NRDC, Sierra Club, EDF, CBD, and Earthjustice submitted comments on the remainder of the alternative proposal here.
CATF also joined comments from the Institute for Policy Integrity at NYU School of Law on the use of the social cost of carbon in the rulemaking here.
Samantha Sadowski, Senior Communications Manager, U.S., ssadowski@catf.us, +1 202-440-1717
About Clean Air Task Force
Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a global nonprofit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. With more than 25 years of internationally recognized expertise on climate policy and a fierce commitment to exploring all potential solutions, CATF is a pragmatic, non-ideological advocacy group with the bold ideas needed to address climate change. CATF has offices in Boston, Washington D.C., and Brussels, with staff working virtually around the world. Visit catf.us and follow @cleanaircatf.
