As states continue issuing permits for new natural gas plants, many are still incorporating federal greenhouse gas standards despite uncertainty over whether those Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) rules will ultimately be repealed. The resulting patchwork approach reflects a broader tension between near-term regulatory compliance and longer-term legal and political uncertainty surrounding US climate policy.
“Everyone is aware that the Trump efforts to revoke the endangerment finding for power plants may not hold up in court and that there’s risk that a future EPA may try to regulate CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants aggressively,” Bracewell’s Jeff Holmstead told E&E News. “But that’s a long way into the future, and it’s not at all clear that CCS will be required.”
