The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized rules in April 2024 for existing coal-fired and new natural gas plants to significantly reduce pollution and emissions. The rules that ultimately take effect 15 years from now require that coal-fired power plants that will operate beyond 2039 and new natural gas-fired plants control 90% of their carbon pollution by 2032, via carbon capture of other means. An interim target is that Coal plants will have to reduce emissions 16% by 2030. These rules could lead to the closure of many coal plants.
Rules for new natural gas plants establish three categories based on their hours of operation over the course of a year:
- Baseload Plants: operate more than 40% of the time
- required to reduce emissions equivalent to 90% carbon capture and sequestration by 2032
- Intermediate Plants: operate 20-40% of the time
- required to reduce emissions to 1,150 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour (CO2/MWh)
- Peaker Plants: operate less than 20% of the time
- required to use lower-emitting fuels such as natural gas (an already common practice)