The Supreme Court’s ruling limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to fight climate change has left the Biden Administration scrambling for ways to meet the President’s goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half by the end the decade.
Although the power of the EPA was diminished, it still has the tools to reduce the planet’s warming. Despite the fact that the EPA was not authorized to regulate the whole energy sector, the court ruled it could still be used for individual plants.
In a 6-3 ruling Thursday, the high court dealt a crushing blow to President Biden’s climate change agenda by siding with 19 Republican-led states that the EPA lacked the broad authority under the Clean Air Act to crack down on emissions from the power industry. The conservative justices found that Congress had not granted the EPA this authority.
The EPA stated that it will release a revised carbon rule for power stations by the beginning of next year after this ruling.
The agency has many options to combat climate change. Eric Schaeffer, of the Environmental Integrity Project, and former director for civil enforcement at the agency said that. It could accelerate the release of a rule to limit carbon pollution by power plants. The Environmental Integrity Project also suggested that the agency should update standards regarding toxic releases from plants. And, it would be able to move more quickly to stop natural gas leakages from methane as promised by the Biden administration.
Mr. Biden pledged to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emission by half by the end the decade, and to create an emissions-free electricity sector by 2035.
Other experts said to the Associated Press, that President Biden might push for targeted emissions-cutting measures. California, and other blue states might also consider climate action.
Analysts predict that the industry will move away from coal and towards renewables as fuel sources, regardless of new regulations.
S&P Global Commodity Insights stated in a Friday note to investors that the company expects significant progress in coal-free energy in coming years.
“We anticipate coal plants in the United States to continue to retire, independent of any new federal policies. The U.S.’s coal-fired power plant share dropped to 5% by 2030,, down from 30% a ten year ago,” stated Xizhou Zhou (Vice President of Global Power and Renewables, S&P Global).
28% Most of the existing coal-fired power in the U.S.A will soon be shut down by 2035,, according to the Energy Information Administration. This data and research arm of Department of Energy is responsible for the Energy Information Administration. About 100 gigawatts have been removed from coal-fired power plants since HTML1, or almost half the total current capacity.
Coal emits more carbon dioxide than any other energy source.
Many coal plants are transitioning to natural gas, which accounted for 37% of the nation’s electricity generation last year compared to coal’s 22.5%, according to the Energy Information Administration. Natural gas, while cleaner than coal is still a danger to methane emissions. This issue is being addressed with the help of spending last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Wind, solar and other renewable energy sources are projected to grow. Analysts project that will double the amount of electricity from these sources by HTML1. Last year, wind and solar accounted for 12% of electricity production.
“Solar growth and wind are expected to accelerate, even if there are no new federal regulations,” stated Patrick Luckow (director of North American power and Renewables at S&P Global).
This article was partly based on wire-service reports.
