Curtis Tate Published

Capito, Republican Senators Ask EPA To Scrap Proposed Power Plant Rules

The Mitchell Plant's cooling towers and exhaust stack send columns of steam and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on an overcast summer day.
The Wheeling Power/Kentucky Power Mitchell Plant in Marshall County, West Virginia.
Curtis Tate/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
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The public has another week to comment on proposed rules for power plants. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, have asked the Biden administration to withdraw them. 

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and 38 of her Republican colleagues have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to scrap its power plant proposal.

The requirement that coal and natural gas power plants capture all of their carbon dioxide emissions or switch to clean hydrogen after 2030 cannot be achieved, they say.

The senators say neither carbon capture nor clean hydrogen are being used on a commercial scale. 

EPA’s proposed rules would force coal and natural gas power plants to shut down, they say. West Virginia has several coal-burning power plants that generate close to 90 percent of the state’s electricity.

The EPA is accepting written comments on the proposed rules through Aug. 8.