It is hoped that the new rules will provide regulatory certainty as the power sector makes long-term investments in the transition to a clean energy economy, says EPA Administrator Michael Regan. The standards are designed to work with the power sector’s planning processes, providing compliance timelines that enable power companies to plan in advance to meet electricity demand while reducing dangerous pollution.

‘This year, the US is projected to build more new electric generation capacity than we have in two decades – and 96% of that will be clean,’ noted President Biden’s National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi.

The suite of rules, finalised under separate authorities including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, includes:

• A final rule for existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants that would ensure that all coal-fired plants that plan to run in the long-term and all new baseload gas-fired plants control 90% of their carbon pollution.
• A final rule strengthening and updating the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for coal-fired power plants, tightening the emissions standard for toxic metals by 67% and finalising a 70% reduction in the emissions standard for mercury from existing lignite-fired sources.
• A final rule to reduce pollutants discharged through wastewater from coal-fired power plants by more than 660mn lb/y, ensuring cleaner water for affected communities, including communities with environmental justice concerns that are disproportionately impacted.
• A final rule that will require the safe management of coal ash that is placed in areas that were unregulated at the federal level until now, including at previously used disposal areas that may leak and contaminate groundwater.

According to the EPA, the new suite of standards will ‘deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in net benefits’, reducing pollution without disrupting the supply of reliable, affordable electricity to meet rising demand.