NYT: “Mr. Biden has said that he is willing to use his executive authority to act on global warming…”
By: Admin – Climate Depot
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/22/climate/epa-power-plants-pollution.html
By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman
President Biden’s administration is poised to announce limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that could compel them to capture the pollution from their smokestacks, technology now used by fewer than 20 of the nation’s 3,400 coal and gas-fired plants, according to three people who were briefed on the rule.
If implemented, the proposed regulation would be the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which generate about 25 percent of the planet-warming pollution produced by the United States. It would also apply to future plants.
Almost all coal and gas-fired power plants would have to cut or capture nearly all of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2040, according to the people familiar with the regulation, who asked not to be identified because the rule has not been made public.
President Biden’s administration is poised to announce limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that could compel them to capture the pollution from their smokestacks, technology now used by fewer than 20 of the nation’s 3,400 coal and gas-fired plants, according to three people who were briefed on the rule.
If implemented, the proposed regulation would be the first time the federal government has restricted carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, which generate about 25 percent of the planet-warming pollution produced by the United States. It would also apply to future plants.
Almost all coal and gas-fired power plants would have to cut or capture nearly all of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2040, according to the people familiar with the regulation, who asked not to be identified because the rule has not been made public.
The proposed rule is sure to face opposition from the fossil fuel industry, power plant operators and their allies in Congress. It is likely to draw an immediate legal challenge from a group of Republican attorneys general that has already sued the Biden administration to stop other climate policies. A future administration could also weaken the regulation.
The regulation, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, is being reviewed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and could still be adjusted.
Maria Michalos, an E.P.A. spokeswoman, said the agency is “moving urgently to advance standards that protect people and the planet, building on the momentum from President Biden’s Investing in America economic agenda, including proposals to address carbon emissions from new and existing power plants.”
It would not mandate the use of carbon capture equipment, a nascent and expensive technology; rather, it would set caps on pollution rates that plant operators would have to meet. They could do that by using a different technology or, in the case of gas plants, switching to a fuel source like green hydrogen, which does not emit carbon, according to the people familiar with the matter. But the regulation could lead to the broader adoption of carbon capture technology, the people said.
Most of the electricity generated in the United States last year — about 60 percent — came from burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and petroleum, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The proposal comes on the heels of two other Biden administration plans to cut tailpipe emissions dramatically by speeding up the country’s transition to electric vehicles, and curb methane leaks from oil and gas wells.
If those three regulations are implemented as proposed, they would significantly reduce the planet-warming pollution created by the world’s largest economy. Together with the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a law that is pouring $370 billion into clean energy programs, they would put the country on track to meet Mr. Biden’s pledge to cut the country’s emissions roughly in half by 2030, and to stop adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2050.
…
Mr. Biden has said that he is willing to use his executive authority to act on global warming…
…
In releasing a climate rule for power plants, Mr. Biden hopes to succeed where his former boss, President Barack Obama, failed. Nearly a decade ago, Mr. Obama tried to enact broad limits on power plant pollution that were first blocked by the Supreme Court and then rolled back by President Donald J. Trump. Last summer, the Supreme Court confirmed that the E.P.A. had the authority to regulate carbon emissions from power plants but in a limited way.
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As you leave the United States, will the last sane person please turn out the lights?
That’s if there’s any power left to run the lights.
To go where?
Power Plant Emission Trends, EPA
Power Plant Emission Trends | US EPA
This site notes that in 2022 CO2 power plant emissions were 1.7 billion tons. I assume that the chart really means metric tons.
President Biden has now decreed that coal fired power plants now must capture or other wise control CO2 emissions.
So, just how effective will this be?
The atmosphere weighs 5,500,000,000,000,000 metric tons. (5.5 quadrillion tonnes).
Biden expects to remove 1,700,000,000 metric tons.
As a percent of the atmosphere, this is 1,700,000,000 divided by 5,500,000,000,000,000 times 100. This equals
0.0000309%.
Currently, CO2 constitutes about 0.04 % if the global atmosphere. Reducing the CO2 by 0.0000309 percentage points would yield a new atmospheric CO2 content of 0.03999% Rounding back to two decimal places, the CO2 global concentration would still be 0.04%, which is an unmeasurable change.
Mr. Biden’s plan would have absolutely no effect on global atmospheric CO2 levels. None.
One scam follows another .
Global warming then Climate change then Methane from farmed livestock and now carbon capture .
The US government will bankrupt their country and Asia will become the worlds power house .
China is now using more coal than was used by the whole world in 2009 and they are not trying to capture their CO2 and they have more sense to even attempt such a costly process..
I am told they are planting more trees for timber as they import a massive amount of Radiata Pine logs from New Zealand and some of the exporters are getting a little nervous.
Our socialist government here in New Zealand are encouraging overseas companies to buy up our farmland and plant it in Pines for carbon capture .They call it Carbon Farming and once the trees are planted our government will issue carbon certificates to the owners with very little benefit to New Zealand after the initial purchase and the planting of the trees .
Our electricity is very (green) with the majority generated by hydro stations ,with some geothermal in the North Island.
Most power companies have some wind farms and some solar farms are being planed .
We have one major coal and gas plant at Huntly and a few small diesel and gas stations if required .
New Zealand has very high so called agricultural emissions because of our farm animals but we have very low electric generating emissions quite often the country runs on hydro and wind and geothermal with no fossil fueled power generation .
Methane from farmed livestock is carbon neutral exactly the same as if coal fired power stations would be if the CO2 was captured and stored .
In ten years from 1999 until 2009 methane levels in the atmosphere were stable so there was no problem with methane from farming animals or burning coal .
All fodder that the animals eat has absorbed C02 from the air so that is is a carbon sink.
The minute amount of methane that each animal emits during digestion breaks down into water vapour and CO2 in the upper atmosphere into water vapour and C02 within 10 years .
The process is a closed cycle not one atom of carbon is added to the atmosphere .
Since 2010 world coal use has soared from 4.7 billion tonnes to exceed 8 billion tonnes with the entire increase being in Asia .
Methane levels started rising in 2010 with the increase of coal use .
“Almost all coal and gas-fired power plants would have to cut or capture nearly all of their carbon dioxide emissions by 2040”.
OK, no problem. We’ll do it in 2039.
Historians disagree on the cause of the decline of the Roman Empire. It’s hard to point to one event or series of events. Just that what seemed invincible in the 3rd Century was a shadow of itself by the end of the 5th.
The United States, however, has the war on fossil fuels. No doubt about it. This will end the USA’s run as leader of the free world and China will take our place (with far less freedom). The only question is whether the woketocracy and Chinese control over what’s written will allow people to understand Biden’s decisions and their effects centuries from now.
In retrospect, I’m sure there actually was something similar that people noted within the Roman Empire. Something obvious at the time, but records have been altered or lost.
You don’t think population matters? What about India?
I wasn’t there. That’s one theory. It has merit. I’m saying that there were undoubtedly people at the time who knew exactly the moment the Roman Empire was going downhill. Historians today can only theorize.
But I can say with clarity that this war on reliable energy – the one thing that has led to US leadership and quality of life – will be the downfall of US leadership and the tipping point is Biden’s bungling.
This makes me so angry. Every rule making body must be forced to prove scientifically that every rule they are considering is justified beyond any doubt. EPA needs to be cut in half by that I mean fire the top half. If the remainders can’t stand by their work then eliminate the EPA.
Ow. They have electric bills to pay too.
Read headline then scanned until:
Aha here it is:
“by 2040″
So he would be age 97, if alive.
Not a poor bet.
The policy can be adjusted over the next 17 years.
Here we go again! Plants need CO2, we need O2. The only source for O2 is plants, both aqueous and agricultural ones. The oxygen level is going down 19 parts per million per year from the 20.7% we have right now. Once this level reaches 19.5% our ancestors health will be compromised. This is only 3500 years in the future less then the time when the pharaohs ruled In Egypt. Therefore we need more CO2 not less. These people are imbeciles.
Meanwhile the cronies want more capital-
European firms warn renewables need policy, funding support to stay on track (msn.com)
A simplistic policy of guaranteeing a 10% annual rate of return on all monies spent on wind and solar capital expenditures, to be financed by ratepayers on a pay-as-you-go basis using unrestricted charges to ratepayer electricity bills, would initiate a mad scramble by investors to build out Europe’s renewable energy infrastructure.
Which is why we won’t see this very simplistic but very highly effective solution to the problem that not nearly enough capital investment is being spent on wind and solar in Europe, at least according to the firms which market this technology.
Don’t worry, when the electricity goes off, the penny will drop. Either that or the perpetrators will face the ultimate drop, as the general public realise they have been had 100 times over. Lamp posts may even become popular for not giving light. No electric chair of course with no electric!
Even in leftie Britain, a surprising number of people don’t want electric cars any more. Even without much tax electricity except at home costs more than petrol (gas) or diesel despite the insane tax on both. The wheel has come full circle, and because of economics too!
As this asinine idea of restricting CO2 emissions and also the idea of CO2 capture is based on no reality regarding any connection to warming the planet, this policy is another plan to make energy more expensive, force some power plants to close, and destroy our economy. As greenhouse gases do not exist, any policy to reduce emissions patently has another agenda.