House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Members Reps. Kathy Castor (FL-14) and Mike Levin (CA-49) along with the SEEC Co-Chairs — Reps. Doris Matsui (CA-7), Mike Quigley (IL-5), and Paul Tonko (NY-20) —led a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan, urging the agency to adopt strong, comprehensive standards for existing gas-fired power plants. These five members were joined by 86 of their House colleagues in signing the letter. This follows a March 2023 and July 2023 letter that the SEEC leaders sent in support of strong limits for fossil fuel-fired power plant pollution through EPA’s authority under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act.  

“We appreciate EPA’s commitment to setting meaningful and comprehensive pollution standards for our nation’s power plants, and respectfully urge you to adopt final rules on existing gas-fired power plants that include the strongest possible standards to limit greenhouse gases and other pollutants,” the members wrote. “In particular, these rules must take a comprehensive approach to the existing gas fleet by addressing all types of gas plants and their cumulative impacts, as well as the full spectrum of air pollution. Further, we urge you to conduct robust stakeholder engagement as part of this process—including among impacted workers and frontline and environmental justice communities.”

“Over the last four years, EPA has made immense progress towards securing a more equitable and climate-friendly future for our nation. We look forward to working with you to build on this momentum and securing the strongest possible standards to limit pollution from existing gas power plants.”

In April, EPA finalized impactful greenhouse gas emissions standards for new gas and existing coal power plants that will curb 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047 and provide hundreds of billions of dollars in health and climate benefits. The agency is now taking major steps this year to build on this progress by advancing emissions standards for existing gas power plants, a major source of climate-warming pollution and air toxics that threaten human health. 

The letter can be found below and here.

The Honorable Michael S. Regan

Administrator

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.

Washington, DC 20460

Dear Administrator Regan:

We commend the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Biden Administration for

taking significant steps to cut harmful pollution across the U.S. economy and deliver cleaner air and water for American families. We also appreciate EPA’s commitment to setting meaningful and comprehensive pollution standards for our nation’s power plants, and respectfully urge you to adopt final rules on existing gas-fired power plants that include the strongest possible standards to limit greenhouse gases and other pollutants. In particular, these rules must take a comprehensive approach to the existing gas fleet by addressing all types of gas plants and their cumulative impacts, as well as the full spectrum of air pollution. Further, we urge you to conduct robust stakeholder engagement as part of this process—including among impacted workers and frontline and environmental justice communities.

EPA’s final rule setting impactful limits on greenhouse gas pollution for new gas and existing coal power plants is a critical achievement that will curb 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047 and provide hundreds of billions of dollars in health and climate benefits. This important work will not be complete, however, unless similarly ambitious rules are extended to cover the existing gas-fired fleet.

We applaud the agency for taking the first step of opening a non-regulatory public docket on this topic to ensure the EPA hears from all of the necessary stakeholders about how the agency can design a strong, durable, and comprehensive approach to regulating the existing gas-fired fleet. We agree with the goals you laid out in announcing this docket, including to take a "comprehensive approach to cover the entire fleet of natural gas-fired turbines, as well as cover more pollutants including climate, toxic and criteria air pollution."

Existing gas-fired power plants emit significant planet-warming pollution that is fueling the climate crisis. The power sector as a whole is the largest stationary source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, and, in 2022, gas-fired power plants accounted for 45 percent of power sector carbon pollution. As emissions from other sources fall, EPA projects existing gas plants’ share of power sector greenhouse gas emissions to grow to 74 percent by 2035 in its baseline. Notably, one analysis found that an EPA framework that addresses greenhouse gas emissions from only existing coal and new gas facilities—while omitting existing gas plants from regulation—would leave more than half of the potential emissions reductions on the table.

In addition to carbon dioxide, the combustion of natural gas releases toxic pollutants into the atmosphere, including: nitrogen oxides; carbon monoxide; volatile organic compounds; and hazardous air pollutants including formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, xylenes, and others. Critically, exposure to air toxics, which disproportionately endanger frontline communities of color, is proven to cause cancer, respiratory illness, and other adverse health outcomes.

These public health impacts—and the urgency of the climate crisis—compel EPA to regulate existing gas-fired power plants. EPA has the authority and the obligation to do so under the Clean Air Act, which aims to protect Americans from pollution sources that cause, or significantly contribute to, air pollution that endangers public health or welfare. Adopting the strongest possible emissions standards for existing gas plants, we believe, is essential to achieving President Biden’s environmental justice goals, as well as his targets of cutting U.S. climate pollution in half by 2030 and having a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035.

As EPA moves forward with formulating strong, comprehensive standards to cover the fleet of existing gas plants, the agency must obtain meaningful feedback from stakeholders, including environmental, labor, and environmental justice organizations, and engage frontline communities around the U.S. most impacted by the fossil fuel economy. Any standards proposed by EPA should address the cumulative impacts of pollution, particularly for frontline and environmental justice communities. Further, the agency’s comprehensive approach to regulating pollution from existing gas power plants should fulfill all Clean Air Act requirements for both greenhouse gas emissions and for other pollutants, address the entirety of the existing gas fleet, and significantly reduce carbon pollution.

Thank you for your steadfast leadership. Over the last four years, EPA has made immense progress towards securing a more equitable and climate-friendly future for our nation. We look forward to working with you to build on this momentum and securing the strongest possible standards to limit pollution from existing gas power plants.