Rules delayed for natural gas power plants
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying planned rules to curb emissions from natural gas plants that release harmful air pollutants and contribute to global warming.
The agency said it is still on track to finalize rules for coal-fired power plants and new gas plants that have not come online, a key step to slow planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s secondlargest contributor to climate change.
But in a turnaround from previous plans, the agency said it will review standards for gas plants and expand the rules to include more pollutants. The change came after complaints from environmental justice groups, who said the earlier plan allowed too much toxic air pollution near power plants and other industrial sites.
“As EPA works toward final standards to cut climate pollution from existing coal and new gas-fired power plants later this spring, the agency is taking a new, comprehensive approach to cover the entire fleet of natural gas-fired turbines, as well as cover more pollutants,’’ EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement Thursday.
Regan called the new plan a “stronger, more durable approach” that will achieve greater emissions reductions than the current proposal and better protect vulnerable frontline communities.
Still, the plan was not universally welcomed by environmentalists, who said the new approach will likely push rules for in-operation gas plants past the November presidential election.
“We are extremely disappointed in EPA’s decision to delay finalizing carbon pollution standards for existing gas plants, which make up a significant portion of carbon emissions in the power sector,’’ said Frank Sturges, a lawyer for the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group.
“Greenhouse gas emissions from power plants have gone uncontrolled for far too long, and we have no more time to waste,” Sturges added.
But some environmentalists hailed the decision, saying the new plan would ultimately deliver better results.