The Biden administration on Thursday proposed new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to curb global warming from the second-largest contributor to climate change.

A rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency could force power plants to capture stack emissions using a technology that has long been promised but is not widely used in the United States.

“This administration is committed to meeting the urgency of the climate crisis and taking necessary action,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.

The new rule would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants, protect health and protect our planet,” Regan said.

Not only would the plan improve air quality across the country, but it will deliver substantial health benefits to communities across the country, especially our frontline communities…that have been unfairly burdened by pollution for decades,” Regan said in a speech at the University of Maryland.

President Biden called the plan a major step forward in the climate crisis and protecting public health.

If finalized, the proposed regulation would mark the first time the federal government has capped carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which generate about 25% of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, second only to the transportation sector. The rule would also apply to future power plants and would avoid up to 617 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2042, equivalent to the annual emissions of 137 million passenger cars, the EPA said.

Nearly all coal-fired power plants, along with large, widely used gas-fired power plants, should reduce or capture nearly all of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2038, the EPA said. Plants that cannot meet the new standards would be forced to retire.

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The plan is likely to be challenged by industry groups and Republican states. They have accused the Democratic administration of overreaching on environmental regulations and warned of an impending grid reliability crisis. The power plant rule is one of at least six EPA rules that limit power plant emissions and wastewater treatment.

It really is an onslaught of government regulation designed to close the coal fleet prematurely,” said Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Assemblies.

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Regan denied that the power plant ruled

or other regulations

aimed at shutting down the coal sector, but acknowledged: “We will see some coal retire.

The proposal is based on proven, readily available technologies to mitigate carbon pollution and builds on industry practices already underway to move toward clean energy, he said.

Coal provides about 20% of the electricity in the US, up from about 45% in 2010. Natural gas provides about 40% of the electricity in the US. The rest comes from nuclear energy and renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and hydropower.

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Environmental groups cheered

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EPA action is urgently needed to protect against the devastating impacts of climate change, from increasingly severe floods, hurricanes and droughts to worsening wildfires.

Fred Krupp, chairman of the Environmental Defense Fund, said the proposal will move us closer to a clean energy future with healthier air, a safer climate, good jobs and affordable, reliable electricity.

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Jim Matheson, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Ass

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n., said the plan would further strain the U.S. power grid and “undermine decades of work to reliably keep the lights on across the country.”

Matheson, whose association represents 900 local electricity cooperatives nationwide, said the EPA’s plan could force critical, always-on power plants into early retirement and make it extremely difficult to authorize, site and build new natural gas plants.

Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which represents hundreds of investor-owned electric companies, said the group will assess whether the EPA’s proposal is consistent with its commitment to provide reliable, clean energy. the same level as in 1984, while electricity consumption has increased by 73% since then, Kuhn said.

The EPA rule would not mandate the use of carbon capture and storage equipment, a technology that is expensive and still in development. Instead, the agency would set carbon dioxide pollution limits that plant operators would have to meet. Some natural gas plants could start blending gas with another fuel source, such as hydrogen, that emits no carbon, though specific action is left to industry.

Still, the regulation is expected to lead to greater use of carbon capture equipment, a technology the EPA said has been “sufficiently demonstrated” to control pollution.

Despite years of research, only a handful of projects are active in the country.

Jessie Stolark, executive director of the Carbon Capture Coalition, said the proposed rules take the role of carbon capture to the next level by naming it as one of the available technologies for reaching emissions standards. natural gas, in particular, will be part of the domestic energy mix for decades,” said Stolark, whose coalition includes industry, labor and environmental groups.

Groups at both ends of the political spectrum questioned whether carbon capture and storage is a realistic solution. Billions of dollars have been wasted trying to prove this technology is real and all we have to show is a series of spectacular failures,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, a left-wing advocacy group. Marty Durbin, president of the US Chambers Global Energy Institute, said EPA regulations should be based on what is technologically feasible and commercially available. Going further, as this rule does, could jeopardize the reliability of electricity and push energy prices to unsustainable levels.”

About 60% of the electricity generated in the US last year came from burning fossil fuels in the country’s 3,400 coal-fired power plants.

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and gas-fired plants, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

These rules are important, “We must do this to face the climate crisis”,

said David Doniger, senior strategic director for climate and clean energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The rules of the power plant are crucial to comply

President

Biden’s goals of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating carbon emissions from the power grid by 2035, he and other proponents said.

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The proposal comes weeks after the government announced strict new exhaust pollution limits requiring up to two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the US to be electric by 2032 and months after Biden announced rules to curb methane leaks from oil and gas wells.

The rules follow climate action through the Infrastructure Act of 2021 and billions of dollars in tax credits and other incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed last year.

While Biden has made fighting global warming a top priority, he faced sharp criticism from environmentalists, especially young climate activists, over a recent decision to approve Alaska’s controversial Willow oil project. Oil giant ConocoPhillips’ massive drilling plan could produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day on Alaska’s petroleum-rich North Slope. Environmental groups are calling Willow a carbon bomb and have mounted a #StopWillow campaign on social media.

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The new plan comes 14 years after the EPA declared carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases a threat to public health. President Obama tried to set limits on carbon pollution from US power plants, but his 2015 Clean Power Plan was blocked by the Supreme Court and later reversed by President Trump.

Last year, the Supreme Court limited how the Clean Air Act can be used to reduce climate-aging emissions from power plants. The 6-3 ruling affirmed the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, but said it could not force a nationwide transition away from using coal to generate electricity.

Vickie Patton, general counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the rule relies on EPA’s traditional authority to regulate air pollution and is consistent with the language in Chief Justice John’s majority opinion.

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. “What you see here is a proposal that takes great care of the concerns of the Supreme Court,” she said.

The EPA said the new rule will give plant operators the flexibility to comply with the new standards in a manner of their choosing. And instead of creating a single limit that all power plants must meet, the agency said, it will set a series of targets based on the size of the plant, how often it is used and whether it is already scheduled for retirement.