Will Biden's climate rule have a toxic loophole? - POLITICO

Will Biden’s climate rule have a toxic loophole? - POLITICO

Will Biden’s climate rule have a toxic loophole?

The Biden administration’s upcoming rule to slash climate pollution from power plants may not be as comprehensive as advocates had hoped.

About 1,000 natural gas plants in largely poor, Black and Latino neighborhoods could be excluded from the historic pollution limits that EPA is expected to propose next week, Jean Chemnick writes.

EPA spokesperson Khanya Brann told Jean the agency wouldn’t comment because the rule is under review and “subject to change.” But four people briefed by the agency, who were granted anonymity to discuss the matter candidly, said the new proposal would not hold so-called peaker plants to the same strict limits as other power plants.

Peaker plants don’t operate all the time. They’re used to provide backup electricity when demand is high, such as during winter mornings when people turn up the heat or summer afternoons when air conditioning is a must. They can run as often as a few hours a day to as little as a few hours per year. And they tend to be dirtier than regular power plants.

That means it could be especially expensive to retrofit these plants with equipment to capture their carbon pollution, as EPA’s new rule could effectively compel other plants to do. That cost might be so onerous it forces peaker plants to retire — threatening the grid’s reliability during extreme demand and making it harder to defend the rule in court.

On the other hand, letting peaker plants continue to emit carbon dioxide and toxic air pollutants could have a disproportionate impact on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Peaker plants are often located in dense urban areas where the need for power is greatest.

Biden’s split screen: President Joe Biden has pledged to address the inequitable distribution of environmental pollution, which has led to grave health disparities between Black and white Americans. Less than two weeks ago, he made a pre-Earth Day announcement in the Rose Garden regarding measures to tighten environmental reviews of new projects in already-overburdened communities.

Black residents are typically exposed to upward of 60 percent more pollution than they produce, including contaminants that can cause cardiovascular and respiratory ailments. Black Americans, for example, are 30 percent more likely than white people to have asthma and three times more likely to die from asthma-related causes.

Some environmentalists also worry that exempting peaker plants from EPA’s strict pollution standards might compel energy companies to turn their regular power plants into peaker plants to avoid expensive investments in slashing planet-warming emissions.

It’s Wednesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO’s Power Switch. I’m your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to

Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Alex Guillén breaks down why the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case aimed at overturning a legal precedent that helps federal agencies defend environmental rules in courts.

Any minute now

The Senate is expected to vote on two measures this evening that would overturn Biden administration priorities, write Manuel Quiñones and Nico Portuondo.

The first proposal would reverse a controversial two-year pause on solar import tariffs from four Southeast Asian countries. The measure has secured bipartisan support in both chambers. And the second would overturn an Endangered Species Act listing for lesser prairie chickens, a wild bird found in five states.

The White House has said Biden would veto both measures should they make it to his desk, and backers of the proposals appear to lack the necessary support to force the president to change course.

Power Centers

A ‘nasty battle’

As the Inflation Reduction Act pours billion of dollars into clean energy, electric vehicles and related industries, states are jockeying for their piece of the action, investing billions to attract the hottest new companies, writes Hannah Northey.

But economic development subsidies can be a drain on state and local government coffers, leaving some critics to question whether they are worth the public investments.

Is hydrogen clean?

Upcoming EPA regulations are expected to allow power plants to burn hydrogen to slash their greenhouse gas emissions, writes David Iaconangelo.

But many questions remain about whether hydrogen will be a viable climate tool: Few power plants today are using it at scale, and some industry observers say that unless it is produced through a “clean” process before it reaches a power plant, it may not make a significant dent in U.S. emissions.

Russia’s war heads west

A senior NATO intelligence official said there is a “significant risk” Russia could target critical infrastructure in Europe or North America, including gas pipelines and internet cables, writes Charlie Cooper.

The official told reporters Russia is “actively mapping” the infrastructure of Ukraine’s allies on land and on the seabed.

In Other News

2024 campaign: The United Auto Workers said the Detroit-based union is not yet endorsing Biden for a second term amid concerns about his administration’s electric vehicle policies.

Electric future: Is this the beginning of the end for gasoline?

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Capitol Hill progressives are urging Biden to declare a formal climate emergency, amid frustration over the administration’s approval of the the Willow oil project in Alaska.

Germany’s most senior Green politician slammed radical activists who glue themselves to the ground to highlight the climate crisis, saying such protests are “unhelpful” and “downright wrong.”

Offshore wind faces increasingly choppy seas, but that has not fazed Northeastern states looking to the industry to green their power supplies.

That’s it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.

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