EPA's Proposed Power Plant Rules: Impact and Implications for Multiple States.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a series of anti-pollution rules in the past month, including the toughest ever limits on carbon pollution from America's power sector, which will require large, existing coal and gas plants to slash their emissions by 90% or face being shut down. The EPA's recent regulations will prevent 15bn tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to about three times the US's carbon pollution, or nearly half of the entire world's annual fossil fuel emissions. The new rules suddenly put America within reach of reducing emissions by up to half of 2005 levels, giving the world a chance of avoiding catastrophic heatwaves, wildfires, drought and other climate calamities.