Biden EPA takes aim at coal plants with new proposal

President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency is moving to impose sweeping new restrictions on coal plants across the nation for the first time in more than a decade.

The EPA outlined a proposal Wednesday to crack down on emissions limits under Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. The proposition includes a 67% emissions reduction limit for pollutants such as lead, nickel and arsenic for all coal plants in America, as well as a 70% reduction standard on mercury emissions for plants that use lignite coal.

Lignite plants are primarily located in Texas and North Dakota.

In a press release on the proposal, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the effort would help protect the planet and improve public health.

“By leveraging proven, emissions-reduction measures available at reasonable costs and encouraging new, advanced control technologies, we can reduce hazardous pollution from coal-fired power plants, protecting our planet and improving public health for all,” he stated.

Despite the projected $230 million to $300 million price tag, EPA officials told reporters that the rule, if put in place, could yield up to $3 billion dollars in so-called climate and health benefits.

If approved, it would be the strictest crackdown under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards since they were adopted under then President Barack Obama during his first term.

Political leaders from coal states immediately decried the regulation, saying it put their states economy in danger.

“The Biden administration continues to wage war on coal and affordable, reliable energy by issuing unnecessary regulations intended to drive down electricity production from our nation’s baseload power resources,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said. “With one job-killing regulation after another, the EPA continues to threaten the livelihoods of those in West Virginia and other energy-producing communities across the country.”