As fires, floods, and heatwaves rage across the continent, power plants continue to freely spew climate pollution into our communities and into our atmosphere.
The good: EPA has proposed new regulations on power plants, using the most potent weapon the Biden Administration has to fight the climate crisis.
The bad: The rules don't go far enough—they absolutely must be made stronger to protect our families and our future.
The ugly: Big Polluters are going to fight these regulations with everything they've got, which means we have to make our voices heard.
Send your comment to EPA now and defend these limits on climate pollution.
Hello,
I'm writing to you about docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0072-0001, the new standards for greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric generating units.
I'm glad to see EPA using its most effective tool for addressing climate pollution, and thank you for putting forward this strong foundation. However, there are several key changes that are within EPA's legal boundaries that must be made to ensure these standards meet the full threat and urgency of the climate crisis.
I strongly urge EPA to update the standards for new gas plants by: urgently requiring a 90% reduction standard (not beginning in 2035, but immediately), and by setting a stronger standard for peaker and intermediate plants that also begins right away.
EPA must also update standards for existing gas plants by: lowering the minimum capacity for plants covered by this rule from 300MW (which would leave 86% of 2035 gas plant capacity unregulated under these rules) to 100MW, and by moving the start date from 2035 to 2030.
For existing coal plants, I urge EPA to change the retirement exemption from 2040 to 2028 so that the dangerous emissions from these plants are reduced on a timeline that better reflects the urgency of the climate crisis and the impact of these plants on our communities.
I must also point out that the Congressional Review Act is a real threat to these critical standards, and EPA must protect the legacy and impact of its important work by finalizing this rule before March, 2024.
Finally, EPA has an obligation to protect our communities by proposing further rules that create environmental safeguards and monitoring standards for CO2 transport and storage.
With these changes, I believe these standards will go down as some of the most important steps ever taken by the Biden Administration and EPA to take on climate pollution from the power sector, and I'm so grateful that you have taken this important first step with a strong proposal.
Sincerely,
Name
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