By Keith Johnson and Tennile Tracy | The Wall Street Journal
The Obama administration plans to block the construction of new coal-fired power plants unless they are built with novel and expensive technology to capture greenhouse-gas emissions, according to people familiar with a draft proposal.
The administration’s rule on emissions from new power plants, a long-awaited measure that is one of the capstones of the administration’s climate-change agenda, is set to be formally proposed by the end of next week. While the new rule isn’t final yet and is likely to face a legal challenge, it would be another blow to a coal industry already buffeted by a bonanza of cheap natural gas and increasing regulation.
The Environmental Protection Agency first proposed a stringent standard for coal-fired plants last year, prompting an election-year debate about whether President Barack Obama was waging what Republicans called a “war on coal.” Mr. Obama has said he supports clean-coal technology but also sees an urgent need to tackle the release of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change. Power-plant emissions account for about a third of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions.
After the resistance last year, many observers had expected the administration to tone down its rule and possibly create a path for new coal plants using existing technology.
