Tag Archives: “Affordable Clean Energy Rule”

Yesterday was the last full day of President Trump’s term.  On environmental issues, it closed on a fitting note – another major judicial defeat.  The District of Columbia Court of Appeals vacated EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule.  In doing so, the Court – thanks to what appears to have been a misguided strategic decision by EPA – confirmed EPA’s authority to use a range of tools to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.… More

Here’s my take on the Affordable Clean Energy Plan.

Who cares?

On the merits, it does almost nothing.  It requires only that states impose heat rate improvement requirements on coal-fired power plants.  It’s not going to meaningfully lower emissions.  Administrator Wheeler has trumpeted that emissions will be 35% lower in 2030 than in 2005, but the ACE rules contribute almost nothing to that result.… More

Yesterday, EPA finalized its Affordable Clean Energy rule, which will replace the Obama Clean Power Plan.  More on ACE later.  For now, I just want to use the ACE roll-out to contrast what’s happening at the federal level with what’s happening in the rest of the world – specifically, in this case, in Boston.

While President Trump is throwing coal a “lifeline,” the Carbon Free Boston:  Transportation Technical Report is discussing banning internal combustion automobiles from the City of Boston by 2050. … More

EPA has finally released its proposed replacement for the Clean Power Plan, dubbed the Affordable Clean Energy Rule.  More affordable than clean, I’d say.

What’s really telling is that EPA’s own analysis shows that the CPP would have delivered significantly more benefits than ACE.  And that goes for both direct benefits in GHG emissions reductions and indirect benefits related to reductions in traditional criteria pollutants.… More