The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set rules limiting the amount of carbon dioxide a new coal plant can release, forcing coal plants to use expensive, unproven carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems to meet that limit. But CCS technology is nowhere ready for prime time. EPA's push for CCS appears to stem more from its meeting and correspondence with environmentalists than actual feasibility testing with the unproven technology. Further, the agency plans to set carbon dioxide emissions standards for existing coal plants later this year[1], which will wreak havoc on our largest source of electricity. EPA’s destruction of the coal industry had already started with its Mercury and Air Toxics Rule (colloquially called Utility MACT) and the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), leading companies to prematurely retire over 30,000 megawatts of coal-fired capacity by the end of 2016 instead of trying to comply with costly regulations.
