White House Announces Delay of Power Plant Regulation

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Facts

  • US Pres. Joe Biden's administration said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will delay plans to regulate existing fossil fuel power plants until the end of 2024 or next year.1
  • EPA chief Michael Regan said that while existing gas-powered plants won't be regulated now, it will begin regulating new coal- and natural gas-powered plants in the coming months.2
  • The delay in the policy, which is part of the EPA's plan to require all US power plants to capture their carbon dioxide emissions by 2040, follows a deal between Biden, the automotive sector, and labor unions, which also includes delaying limits on automobile emissions.3
  • Power plants account for around 25% of the country's CO2 emissions, with environmental groups expressing concern that the original EPA policy would only cover 5% of existing plants.4
  • Some business, energy, and manufacturing groups have also rejected the policy as power plants currently provide 60% of the nation's electricity to tens of millions of Americans.1

Sources: 1FOX News, 2CNN, 3The New York Times and 4Washington Post.

Narratives

  • Progressive narrative, as provided by Clean Air Task Force. This is a hypocritical decision on the part of the EPA, which just a week ago determined that its own proposed regulation wouldn't be enough to reach its 2040 emissions goal. Instead of making its rules even more robust, it's decided to play politics with the environment and roll back the already insufficient power plant regulation plan. The Earth is being polluted at dangerous levels, and the only way to fix it is by slashing greenhouse emissions.
  • Conservative narrative, as provided by New York Post. Someone at the EPA must have finally realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to shut down 60% of the electric grid — which is essentially what would have happened since the original carbon policy was virtually impossible to follow. The EPA may have also noticed that the Biden administration is trying to double the size of the grid through his electric vehicle ambitions, which would ironically require more electric power, not less.

Predictions