Biden’s plan to cut power emissions hinges on little-used carbon capture

An employee drives past equipment installed as part of the Petra Nova Carbon Capture Project at NRG Energy's W.A. Parish Generating Station in Thompsons, Texas, in

The Biden administration plans to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by relying on carbon capture technology barely used at U.S. power plants, and the approach is already butting up against obstacles: Delays are mounting for wells and other infrastructure necessary for a wave of carbon capture projects, while skeptics say the technology hasn’t yet been “adequately demonstrated” — a legal threshold for the government’s embrace of it under the Clean Air Act.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is putting the final touches to its proposal to stifle planet-warming pollution from coal and natural gas power plants, set to be unveiled this week. The plan will establish rate-based limits on carbon dioxide emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, based on the agency’s assessment of the “best system of emission reduction” under the Clean Air Act.

The measure is critical to achieving President Joe Biden’s climate goals and fulfilling his Paris Agreement commitment to halve U.S. climate emissions by the end of the decade.