The Environmental Protection Agency issued a new proposal to limit greenhouse gas emissions two weeks ago, effectively ending construction of new coal-fired power plants. The new rules would limit carbon dioxide emissions to 1,000 pounds per megawatt-hour, something that's virtually impossible at coal-fired plants without viable carbon-capture technology, still not commercialized. Many media outlets have weighed in about the decision, including speculation about the "end of coal as we know it."
Terrence Henry of State Impact reports building a new coal-fired plant "is going to be a very unattractive option" in the future. Though the EPA says coal can still be used for energy production if plants are built with technology to reduce CO2 emissions, Matthew Yglesias of Slate writes: "Barring some miraculous new innovation in the creation of cost-effective carbon sequestration technology, there aren’t going to be any more coal-fired plants built in the United States." He says natural gas will be the new face of American energy production, and the alternative to gas "in the event that the gas boom ends" will be renewable sources.
Yglesias says the new rules aren't "that big a deal" right now because it won't have an impact in the short-term. "Cheap gas, the falling price of solar, community activism, and the risk of CO2 regulation had already created the situation where no new post-2012 conventional coal was in the pipeline anyway," he writes. At least three energy companies were already moving away from coal-fired plants, writes Padma Nagappan of GreenBiz.com. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Diego Gas & Electric and Duke Energy representatives told Nagappan they had no intention of building new coal plants, but they do intend to build natural gas plants. Yglesias says regulating old coal-fired plants will be the subject of a separate rule-making process.
Here is a story about the EPA's new greenhouse gas limits from McClatchy Newspapers, and another from The New York Times.
Terrence Henry of State Impact reports building a new coal-fired plant "is going to be a very unattractive option" in the future. Though the EPA says coal can still be used for energy production if plants are built with technology to reduce CO2 emissions, Matthew Yglesias of Slate writes: "Barring some miraculous new innovation in the creation of cost-effective carbon sequestration technology, there aren’t going to be any more coal-fired plants built in the United States." He says natural gas will be the new face of American energy production, and the alternative to gas "in the event that the gas boom ends" will be renewable sources.
Yglesias says the new rules aren't "that big a deal" right now because it won't have an impact in the short-term. "Cheap gas, the falling price of solar, community activism, and the risk of CO2 regulation had already created the situation where no new post-2012 conventional coal was in the pipeline anyway," he writes. At least three energy companies were already moving away from coal-fired plants, writes Padma Nagappan of GreenBiz.com. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., San Diego Gas & Electric and Duke Energy representatives told Nagappan they had no intention of building new coal plants, but they do intend to build natural gas plants. Yglesias says regulating old coal-fired plants will be the subject of a separate rule-making process.
Here is a story about the EPA's new greenhouse gas limits from McClatchy Newspapers, and another from The New York Times.
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