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Reaction to EPA revised carbon emission rules

World Coal,


The coal industry has strongly criticised new regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The new EPA rules, announced on 20 September, impose limits on carbon emissions from all future coal and natural gas plants to be built. The new regulations, based on the US Clean Air Act, were welcomed by green groups but strongly criticised by the coal industry.

Impact

The new proposal would impose separate limits for gas and coal-fired plants. Coal-fired plants constructed under the rules would be able to emit no more than 1100 lb of CO2/MWh.  Small gas-fired plants would also be limited to 1100 lb of CO2, while larger gas plants would have a stricter 1000 lb limit. Reacting strongly to the new legislation, the National Mining Association has protested that it “effectively bans coal from America's power portfolio, leaving new power plants equipped with even the most efficient and environmentally advanced technologies out in the cold.”

‘Punitive limits’

Shortly after West Virginia Senator, Joe Manchin, denounced the regulation, Alpha Natural Resources released a statement condemning the imposition of “unrealistic mandates for unproven and uneconomical technologies” and stressed that the restrictions imposed by the new legislation will ultimately have adverse impacts on innovation, jobs, the economy and the consumer. CONSOL Energy Inc. similarly described the new CO2 limits as “punitive” and condemned the recent action by the Obama administration as “dangerous and unnecessary.”  Arch Coal, Inc. has highlighted the unrealistic timeframe of the new proposal, claiming that it goes “way too far, way too fast – and threatens to arrest rather than spur technology advances.”  Peabody Energy has warned that the new EPA rule would cause consumers’ power bills to rise drastically over time, as seen in similar failed experiments in Australia, the EU and California.

Edited from various sources by Katie Woodward.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/23092013/reaction_to_epa_revised_carbon_emission_rules_68/

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