Biden’s Power Plant Crackdown Raises More Questions Than Answers

The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued final regulations to cut power plant greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants Thursday that could raise more questions than answers in a time of rising demand and diminishing reliability on America’s power grid. Assuming it is upheld by the courts, the regulation will require both coal and natural gas power plants to invest millions in carbon capture and storage and other technology between now and 2032, or face being removed from the grid.

Much has been written in recent months about the electricity-gobbling nature of hundreds of new data centers and crypto-mining operations being installed around the country, along with the power needs of government-subsidized renewable energy and electric vehicle industrial plants. The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) stated in its current assessment that new demands on the grid during 2023 were more than triple those of 2022, and the pace only seems destined to accelerate in the years to come.

“Impartial experts and officials have warned that policies and regulations, especially the new Clean Power Plan, that are designed to force the premature closure of coal plants could trigger an electric reliability crisis,” Michelle Bloodworth, President of America’s Power, told me in an email. “Regrettably, EPA has chosen to ignore these warnings.”