House GOP moves to block EPA rules on power plants

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WASHINGTON (AP) — In a long-expected skirmish, House
Republicans are moving to block President Barack Obama’s plan to limit
carbon pollution from new power plants.
A bill targeting the power
plant rule is slated for a vote on the House floor Thursday as GOP
lawmakers fight back against what they call the Obama administration’s
"war on coal." Obama’s proposal, a key part of his plan to fight climate
change, would set the first national limits on heat-trapping pollution
from future power plants.
A measure sponsored by Rep. Ed Whitfield
of Kentucky, chairman of a House subcommittee on energy and power,
would require the Environmental Protection Agency to set carbon
emissions standards based on technology that has been in use for at
least a year. Republicans and some coal-state Democrats say the EPA rule
is based on carbon-capturing technology that does not currently exist.
Whitfield
called the power plant proposal "one of the most extreme regulations of
the Obama administration," adding that it would "make it impossible to
build a new coal-fired power plant in America."
The White House
has threatened to veto the measure, saying it would "undermine public
health protections of the Clean Air Act and stop U.S. progress in
cutting dangerous carbon pollution from power plants." Power plants
account for about one-third of U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide and
other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
EPA
Administrator Gina McCarthy and other officials have said the proposed
rule — the first of two major regulations aimed at limiting carbon
pollution from power plants — is based on carbon reduction methods that
are "technically feasible" and under development in at least four sites.
The rule affecting future plants is a prelude to a more ambitious plan,
expected later this year, to control carbon pollution at existing power
plants.
In January, McCarthy told the Senate Environment
Committee: "We looked at the data available. We looked at the
technologies. We made a determination that (carbon capture and storage
technology) was the best system for emission reductions for coal
facilities moving forward, because it was technically feasible and it
would lead to significant emission reductions."
Whitfield and other critics dispute that, saying carbon capture technology is years away from being
commercially viable.
The
EPA rule would "mandate (emission) control technologies for power
plants that are not yet commercially available, effectively banning new
coal-fired power plants … and setting a dangerous precedent that could
cascade to other fuels," the National Association of Manufacturers said
in a letter supporting Whitfield’s bill.
But environmental groups said the bill would gut the EPA’s authority to reduce carbon pollution.
"The
bill sets up impossible tests for any EPA standard reducing carbon
pollution to meet and allows utilities to decide what regulations will
be for new power plants — effectively delaying the best emissions
reductions technology for years or even decades," the League of
Conservation Voters said in a letter urging lawmakers to oppose the
bill.
The Republican-controlled House is likely to approve the
Whitfield bill, but the fate of a companion measure sponsored by Sen.
Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is less certain.
Manchin said his bill would
ensure that pollution standards imposed by the EPA are realistic,
calling the current proposal "unattainable under today’s technology."
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