States will likely need more time to submit their plans for meeting the new carbon rules for existing power plants, Janet McCabe, acting head of the EPA’s air office, said last week.
According to Bloomberg, McCabe told a breakfast hosted by ICF International on July 17 that the EPA recognized that many states wouldn’t meet Climate Action Plan’s one-year time frame because they would need to enact new laws or regulations.
Under President Obama’s plan, which aims to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants by 30 percent by 2030 below 2005 levels, states’ final rules would be completed by June 2015, and state implementation plans would be submitted to the EPA for approval by June 30, 2016.
Earlier this week industry groups sent a letter to EPA chief Gina McCarthy warning that the carbon rules for existing power plants are “not workable.”
The Partnership for a Better Energy Future, which represents 140 organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, National Mining Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and more, wants the EPA to extend the public comment period for the new climate rules and change the proposed regulation.
Photo Credit: coal power plant via Shutterstock