Rejecting a last-minute appeal by two dozen Republican-led states, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Biden administration can set limits to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions at fossil fuel-burning power plants. The “surprise victory” for the Biden administration, as categorized by CNN, allows the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce its set targets at power plants for greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the current regulations, challenged multiple times in court and now upheld, the EPA requires existing coal power plants and new natural gas power plants to capture or cut 90 percent of their “climate pollution” by 2032. The rule would reduce carbon emissions from power plants by more than 75 percent compared to 2005 levels.
The rule is a major part of the Biden administration’s climate plan to eliminate carbon emissions from the energy sector by 2035 and from all industry by 2050.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
