Carbon Capture Coalition Statement on EPA’s Final Rule to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants 

The following statement on the publication of the Final Rule to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants may be attributed to Jessie Stolark, Executive Director of the Carbon Capture Coalition:   

“The Coalition appreciates the administration’s publication of final rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired and new natural gas power plants. While the final rule differs from the earlier proposed rule, we are pleased to see that the EPA continues to recognize carbon capture technologies as a key climate mitigation tool to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) and co-pollutants from coal and natural gas electric generating units.

“The Carbon Capture Coalition includes companies, labor unions, and non-profits working together on a consensus basis; given our broad, diverse, bipartisan membership, we did not have a consensus position on the proposed rule. That said, we fully agree that the full suite of carbon management technologies is necessary to cost-effectively meet both US and global greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets while reducing the total amount of air pollutants released from power facilities. Last year, we submitted comments to the EPA on this rule, reiterating our support for deploying carbon management technologies in the power sector. We also reiterated important considerations necessary to enable the economywide deployment of carbon management technologies. 

“We look forward to reviewing the rule with our members and providing additional comments to EPA as warranted. We will also work with the administration as they work to draft regulations that adequately consider the importance of deploying carbon management technologies in the existing natural gas power fleet.

“While there is no silver bullet to address the impacts of our changing climate, carbon management technologies, which include carbon capture, removal, transport, reuse, and geologic storage, are an essential tool for decarbonizing our highest emitting sectors and helping the US achieve net zero emissions by mid-century. In the US power sector, the deployment of carbon management will play an essential role in addressing emissions from existing power plants, where fossil fuel generation currently provides more than 50 percent of total power. Looking forward, the carbon capture deployed in the power sector will provide flexible, low-emissions energy resources in regions with growing shares of renewable energy sources.”   

###

Convened by the Great Plains Institute, the Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 100 companies, unions, and conservation, and environmental policy organizations, building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial-scale deployment of carbon management technologies. This includes carbon capture, removal, transport, utilization, and storage from industrial facilities, power plants, and ambient air.