Background: On April 2, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA, that greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act and that the EPA must determine if they threaten public health and welfare. On December 15, 2009, the EPA Administrator found that the current and projected concentrations of greenhouse gases endanger the public health and welfare of current and future generations. Thereafter, the EPA agreed to proceed with rulemaking. The first real product of this rulemaking procedure is the new GHG standard for large power plants.

Proposal: The new rules are reportedly so strict that no coal-fired power plant can meet the regulations. Although the rules exempt about a dozen coal-fired power plants already on the drawing boards, the rule will apply to future plants. Certain natural gas fired plants are able to meet the new rules.

The rules can be found HERE.