Proposed repeals of power plant carbon pollution and hazardous air pollutant standards threaten public health and the climate
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to repeal two regulations that it finalized last year: the carbon pollution standards existing coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants and the strengthened Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for coal-fired power plants.
“These regressive proposals are bad for public health and bad for climate, all to prop up some of the highest polluting power plants in the nation,” said Shaun Goho, legal director at Clean Air Task Force (CATF). “These standards were put in place for a reason – to fulfill the EPA’s legal obligations to protect public health and the environment from harmful pollution by using the most up-to-date technical and scientific evidence. And the science is clear: if EPA is successful in its repeal of these regulations, the American people will suffer the consequences.”
The first proposal would repeal the carbon pollution standards that EPA finalized last year for existing coal- and new gas-fired power plants, as well as standards for new coal power plants that were finalized in 2015.
“EPA is proposing to turn a blind eye to the largest stationary source of carbon pollution in the U.S. – power plants – in a misguided action that would wipe out the legally required standards and their public health and climate benefits,” said Frank Sturges, attorney at CATF. “The standards are estimated to reduce tens of thousands of tons of health-harming pollution and more than one billion tons of climate-harming carbon dioxide emissions – all that would be lost if the standards were scrapped. The proposed repeal also runs afoul of EPA’s pollution reduction obligation under the Clean Air Act and cannot refute the robust scientific and technical foundation supporting the standards currently in effect. EPA must abandon this proposal.”
The second proposal would repeal the recent technology review update that strengthened the MATS for coal-fired power plants. The proposal would allow more emissions of hazardous air pollutants (air toxics) from coal plants and eliminate continuous monitoring requirements that increase transparency regarding metal air toxics emissions.
“This proposal is a step in the wrong direction for the decades-long effort to control particularly hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. By weakening these important standards, EPA would allow coal-fired power plants to release greater amounts of pollutants like mercury and arsenic that threaten public health and the environment,” said Hayden Hashimoto, attorney at CATF. “The vast majority of coal plants have already achieved the performance required by the updated MATS rule, which ensures some of the worst performing plants achieve the level of performance of their peers. EPA’s proposal would sacrifice cleaner air and a healthier environment – especially for communities disproportionately impacted by this pollution – for the benefit of a small number of particularly dirty coal plants. We urge EPA to reconsider and not finalize this repeal of the updated air toxics standards.”
The Clean Air Act requires stringent regulation of these pollutants, which include mercury – a potent neurotoxin – and nine other hazardous air pollutants that have been classified as human carcinogens or probable human carcinogens. These standards must be reviewed periodically and keep pace with developments and information regarding pollution controls, which over the last decade have shown that plants can do much better at reducing emissions of these air toxics than required by the 2012 rule. The rule EPA is seeking to repeal was finalized in 2024 based on a robust record showing what coal plants could achieve, and the Supreme Court rejected attempts to stay the rule.
Press Contact
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.
