On May 11, 2023, the Biden administration announced its long-anticipated proposed greenhouse gas emission (“GHG”) standards for new and existing fossil-fuel burning power plants (the “Proposed Rule”). In its press release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) stated that the Proposed Rule would reduce total carbon dioxide emissions by 617 million metric tons by 2042, as well as cutting tens of thousands of tons of other air pollutants, including particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxide. The EPA noted that the power sector in 2020 constituted the largest stationary source of GHG emissions in the U.S., emitting 25% of the overall domestic emissions. The EPA estimates that the Proposed Rule would result in an additional 42 gigawatts of coal plant retirements or nearly a quarter of existing coal-fired plants, by 2040. The EPA projects that within that same time frame, demand for natural gas from the power sector would fall by 37%.
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