Following the December 6 oral arguments in West Virginia v. EPA in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Bracewell’s Jeff Holmstead told Inside EPA’s Climate Extra that he was “a little surprised” that the judges and lawyers didn’t discuss the lack of gas-fired plants that have installed carbon capture and storage (CCS), instead focusing on CCS at coal-fired plants.
“A big part of the cost of this” is EPA’s “requirement” that owners and operators install CCS on gas-fired plants, Holmstead said, noting incoming officials could use that claim to help justify a rollback.
Holmstead added, “I think the Trump administration will lay out its interpretation of the statutory language” in a rule repealing EPA’s power plant greenhouse gas rule, referring to the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down Chevron deference.
