EPA Rethinks Climate Rules to ‘Unleash’ Energy
How much will it matter?
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗣𝗔 “𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀”...
... 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 “𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗵” 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆.
Last week EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced 31 actions intended to “unleash American energy”, amongst other aims. Three regulations under reconsideration that stood out to me:
📍𝗖𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝟮.𝟬: These regulations would require both existing coal and new natural gas power plants to significantly reduce carbon emissions, with a focus on carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. Notably (for data centers especially), 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙜𝙖𝙨-𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨 (𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙫𝙚 40% 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧) 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 90% 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙗𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 2032.
📍𝗢𝗢𝗢𝗢 𝗯/𝗰: EPA regulations under the Clean Air Act targeting methane and VOC emissions from the oil and gas industry. OOOOb 𝙨𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙙𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. OOOOc provides guidelines for states to regulate existing sources.
📍𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺: Requires annual emissions reporting from major energy sector sources—such as production wells, processing plants, and pipelines—to annually report greenhouse gas emissions, primarily methane and CO₂. 𝘾𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 2,000 𝙤𝙞𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨, 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙨.
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 “𝘂𝗻𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴” 𝗨𝗦 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆? 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻, 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁?