The Biden administration announced Thursday it would delay part of its signature climate plan to slash planet-warming pollution from the power sector.
The Environmental Protection Agency said it would carve existing gas plants out of a proposed regulation to cut emissions from power plants. The EPA will move forward with finalizing rules cutting emissions from existing coal and new natural gas plants this spring, and begin work immediately on a separate rule for existing gas plants.
It is yet another sign of an administration under pressure to dial back its ambitious climate policies as President Joe Biden and swing-state Democrats seek re-election in 2024 while facing Republican attacks on energy costs.
The process to propose and enact new federal regulations is lengthy, and a new rule would not be done in time before the election.
“As EPA works towards final standards to cut climate pollution from existing coal and new gas-fired power plants later this spring, the agency is taking a new, comprehensive approach to cover the entire fleet of natural gas-fired turbines, as well as cover more pollutants including climate, toxic and criteria air pollution,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.
Regan stressed that “this stronger, more durable approach” to starting a separate rulemaking for existing gas plants would “achieve greater emissions reductions than the current proposal,” because it would focus on a wider range of pollutants and air toxins.
The move comes as several environmental justice and climate groups have pressured the EPA to consider a stronger proposal for existing gas plants, complaining in letters to the agency that the proposed rule would have exempted too many facilities.
“We applaud EPA as it moves to…
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