EPA Potentially Overstepping Authority

According to several states and utilities opposed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") new requirement for carbon capture technology, the EPA is overstepping its Clean Air Act authority to discourage construction of new, coal-fired power plants in favor of cleaner generation sources preferred by the EPA. The EPA's new source performance standards for new and modified power plants (RIN2060-AQ91) require new coal-fired units to installed some form of carbon capture technology to comply with the rules. Opponents of the rule claim that the technology has not been commercially demonstrated to be effective, and that the EPA's reliance on carbon capture technology that has not been adequately demonstrated to be effective violates the Energy Policy Act.