{"id":20596,"date":"2012-03-27T12:20:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T20:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=20596"},"modified":"2012-03-27T12:20:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-27T20:20:24","slug":"epas-new-carbon-rule-doesnt-do-much-in-ca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/27\/epas-new-carbon-rule-doesnt-do-much-in-ca\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA’s New Carbon Rule Doesn’t Do Much in CA"},"content":{"rendered":"

California enacted similar limits to pollution from power plants in 2006
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The EPA's new rule limits carbon emissions from new power plants nationwide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The US Environmental Protection Agency will, for the first time, begin restricting greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The EPA’s new standard<\/a> limits how many pounds of carbon can be emitted per megawatt-hour of electricity generated. It doesn’t apply to existing power plants or to new plants that have already been permitted, and natural gas-powered plants should be able to meet the standard without changes. But coal-powered plants will no longer make the cut without adding carbon capture and sequestration technology.<\/p>\n

This won’t have much of an effect on California’s energy industry, Dave Clegern from the California Air Resources Board told me, though he’s not complaining. “It’s always good to see a national standard, and we’re glad the EPA is doing it.”<\/p>\n

Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a similar standard for power plants in California back in 2006<\/a>. The state gets very little electricity from coal-powered plants, and the coal-fired power California residents do use comes from outside of California<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“The EPA kind of levels the playing field for us,” Clegern said. “Now everyone will be operating with a standard that’s pretty close to ours.”<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n