"EPA is preparing to Supreme Court-proof President Biden’s ambitions for a carbon-free power grid by looking beyond direct greenhouse gas regulation and relying on the knock-on effect of stricter air, waste and water rules.
It’s a “comprehensive approach” to decarbonize the power grid that’s been in the works since the beginning of the Biden administration.
But now that the Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case that could limit how EPA regulates carbon from the power sector, it has become even more important for the agency to find alternative ways to show it can deliver on the president’s promise of a power grid that is 80 percent clean by the end of this decade — and carbon neutral five years later.
The solution EPA is preparing to offer in the coming weeks is a sectorwide road map of the greenhouse gas, conventional air pollutant and water rules it plans to promulgate in the next few years. The strategy could push the ball forward on Biden’s climate commitments by making it less economic to run coal-fired power plants in this country."
Jean Chemnick, Hannah Northey, and Sean Reilly report for E&E News January 24, 2022.
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