, was brought by a group of GOP states, led by West Virginia, and various industry groups. The rule requires new and existing power plants that plan to operate past 2039 to reduce 90% of their carbon pollution by 2032.
“EPA cannot name a single facility that has ever accomplished this rule’s mandate of a system of facility wide, annual 90% carbon capture,” the petitioners’ lawyer, Scott Keller, said. He argued that the EPA has to be able to show that its system-wide annual 90% CCS system has been demonstrated somewhere.
EPA attorney Chloe Kolman said the agency acted reasonably as it relied on “extensive, direct and corroborating evidence” that this emission reduction has been demonstrated. But Judge Neomi Rao raised the petitioner’s argument that Petra Nova uses “slipstream carbon capture,” which means it only captures a small portion of the gas emitted from a coal-fired power plant and has yet to build a complete exhaust system.