The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2015 mandated the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) for any future U.S. coal plants. This effectively blocked the development of new coal units, since CCS is not yet commercially viable.
In effect, the EPA’s decision was another example of federal overreach designed to further limit America’s coal industry.
Fortunately, EPA’s new leadership has reversed course. Under proposed revisions to its New Source Performance Standards, the EPA has dropped the CCS mandate and instead embraced the potential for advanced, commercially available coal technologies.
The move provides a path forward for cutting emissions and maintaining the fuel diversity that underpins the affordability of America’s electricity supply.
The revised EPA standard will encourage new coal plants to adopt “super-critical” and “ultra-supercritical” combustion systems. Such high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) technologies use far less coal to generate the same amount of power as older coal plants — and their efficiency gains could translate into major emissions cuts. – READ MORE