Coal companies reacted angrily to new carbon emission limits unveiled last week by the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the tougher standards could bankrupt the industry. Under the regulations, new coal-burning power plants must limit their emissions to 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, a standard that companies say can be met only by using costly technology to capture carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere. EPA chief Gina McCarthy said such “carbon capture” is already in use at some power plants and that the new limits are needed to tackle climate change, which she called “one of the most significant public health threats of our time.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programmeThe Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs
