Climate law could help EPA justify stronger power plant rules

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EPA may find it easier to impose tough carbon regulations because of what last year’s sweeping climate law will already cost coal and gas power plants.

The reason lies in the way the mammoth spending package known as the Inflation Reduction Act could reshape the U.S. power grid. By 2040, coal-fired power will decrease by 90 percent, while gas plants will lose their position as the main source of baseload power, according to EPA’s preliminary modeling of the power sector.

Those findings may support EPA in crafting new, very stringent rules to limit carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants. The logic: The cost of such rules would barely add to the headwinds already facing the fossil fuel power sector.