Climate News
US EPA scraps greenhouse gas limits on coal and gas power plants at a G20 meeting
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is repealing limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas power plants. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the move in Houston on Monday 14 September, on the sidelines of a G20 ministerial meeting on "energy abundance". Al Jazeera reported that the EPA said the changes would remove more than $300bn in costs for power plants. The agency also proposed a separate rule that could stop future administrations from regulating these emissions again.
The Guardian reported the EPA's own calculation that the move will add 123m metric tons of carbon emissions over the next decade, while saving power plant operators $370m in direct compliance costs. It said the EPA now claims that power plant emissions have "no material impact on global climate change". The decision follows the February repeal of the 2009 "endangerment finding", the scientific basis for federal climate rules.
"Americans will see a decrease in electricity prices, but this is just the beginning." — Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, via The Guardian
How each outlet framed it
- Al Jazeera — the government's claimed savings, set against environmental groups' warnings and expected legal challenges.
- The Guardian — the extra emissions, announced right after the hottest summer ever recorded in the US.
- S&P Global — the energy-industry view: the repeal of "most" of the power plant carbon standards is now complete.
- Kuwait Times — the AFP angle: the US unravelling climate rules at the G20, with other countries present.
Where the numbers differ: the $300bn figure is the EPA's estimate of costs removed. The $370m figure is direct compliance costs for operators, as reported by The Guardian. They measure different things.
What we don't know yet: whether the courts will uphold the repeal. Environmental groups say they will challenge it.