WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it would set standards for greenhouse-gas emissions from the country’s two biggest sources: coal-fired power plants and refineries.
Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said it would be possible to hold down costs, add jobs and reduce overall emissions even as the plants continue to burn fossil fuels. She said it wasn’t possible to estimate yet how much emissions would be reduced.
Scientists globally are in strong agreement that heat-trapping gases are accumulating in the atmosphere mainly as a result of fossil-fuel use and that sharp cuts in emissions will be needed over the next few decades.
The EPA’s new regulations are likely to have only a modest impact on emissions despite worldwide consensus that dramatic cuts are needed to lower the risks of dangerous climate shifts. A plan to impose mandatory reductions on emissions died in Congress last summer.
The EPA rule would require standards only for new plants and those that make major modifications.
Under a provision of the Clear Air Act, existing plants — about 500 coal-fired power plants and 150 refineries — would continue to operate as usual until states impose their own regulations on the basis of EPA guidelines. McCarthy said state regulations aren’t expected until 2015 or 2016.
