Georgia Power projects that over the next decade the state will be leading the nation’s second industrial revolution, led by artificial intelligence boosting data centers, which could triple the state’s energy consumption.

According to Georgia Power’s projections, the company’s projected 12,000 megawatts load growth will triple by the mid-2030, which is consistent with the state’s consistently upward trending economic prospects the company cites as it requests a significant expansion of its energy capacity.

“The latest data continue to support Georgia Power’s expectation for continued and robust economic growth in Georgia and the timing of new large loads,” the company’s Nov. 18 economic development outlook reads. “The pipeline of committed and potential economic development projects continues to grow.”

The Georgia Public Service Commission is scheduled to vote by next 2025 on the company’s long-term plans. The five-member board regulates the state’s utilities and will determine whether new natural gas plants will be built, if more solar power capacity is added, and how much more electricity customers will be charged when the company passes along rising costs.

Georgia Power is estimating that about 90 large-sized industrial projects could be built in Georgia before the end of the decade. Georgia Power has received commitments to purchase its electricity from about 70 prospective data center facilities should they be built inside the Peach State.

However, clean energy advocates are among the knowledgeable critics expressing skepticism about Georgia Power’s projected list of commitments from large data centers, questioning the accuracy of energy demand forecasts over the next several years and what the company says are actual energy usage levels by new data centers.

Georgia Power is set to outline its proposals to meet projected energy demand in its 2025 integrated resource plan, a three-year operations forecast due to be filed in late January with the Georgia PSC. The filing will kick start a process of hearings before state regulators and interested parties where expert testimony from Georgia Power and advocates for consumers and environmental protection are typically presented to chart the utility company’s energy future.

As of Sep. 30, Georgia Power says the total pipeline of economic development projects expected through the mid-2030s has increased by 12,200 megawatts to 36,500 megawatts, with large-scale facilities accounting for 34,600 megawatts. All 25 of the committed large scale projects are expected to be in service by the end of 2028 or sooner, the utility company’s quarterly report states.

“Thirteen of these projects have broken ground, and twelve are pending construction,” the report said. “This evidence clearly indicates that these large load customers are materializing and making progress without material delays.”

According to the U.S. Department of Energy data, centers consume 10 to 50 times as much electricity as the average commercial building.

A 2024 report from the Barclays Equity Research team estimates that data centers account for 3.5% of U.S. electricity consumption today, and the electricity use of those facilities could be above 5.5% in 2027 and more than 9% by 2035.

Maggie Shober, the research director at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said she has concerns about the level of commitment Georgia Power is securing from the planned new data centers. Companies are committing to use Georgia Power as their electricity provider, but it does not guarantee they will build a data center in the state.

“Although these are scary numbers, I think there’s a lot of speculation going on, especially in the data center industry, where people and companies that are interested in sort of flipping sites for data centers are absolutely scrambling to get into this queue. I think that a lot of these will ultimately never show up. I think it’s going to be a challenge to figure out which ones and how do we determine that?”

After decades of almost non-existent demand growth for electricity in the U.S., the artificial intelligence revolution is expected to more than double data center electricity needs by 2030 based on current grid capacity, according to the Barclays report.

“Unlike other industries or energy-consuming activities which place fluctuating requirements on the grid depending on the time of day or year that can be managed to maintain overall reliability and capacity, AI operations are an ‘always on’ demand,” Barclays senior research analysts Will Thompson and Betty Jiang wrote in the August report. “Data centres must operate continuously, 24/7/365, to function for users. In effect, AI energy demand can be considered a constant peak that leads to higher overall peak power demand across the grid.

“With the current focus on building data centre capacity that prioritises secure access to power over specific fuel type, meeting rising electricity demand while lowering emissions will likely be a monumental challenge for grid operators,” the Barclays report said.

In April, the Georgia Public Service Commission approved Georgia Power’s plans to expand its generation capacity by increasing its reliance on fossil fuels and adding more renewable energy by 2025. The company’s integrated resource plan will be the next significant development since then.

Georgia Power is projecting the updated plans will save the typical residential customer about $2.89 on their monthly bills from 2026 to 2028.

“At Georgia Power, our customers are at the center of everything we do, and we are unwavering in our commitment to provide them with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy,” Georgia Power CFO Aaron Abramovitz said in April.

State regulators already approved the company’s request for natural gas or oil-burning generators and solar batteries to meet increasing demand from data centers and other large industrial users over the next decade. Regulators were warned by several clean energy groups against allowing Georgia Power to build three fossil fuel burning units at the legacy fossil-fuel facility Plant Yates in Coweta County.

Concerns linger for clean energy advocates like the Southern Environmental Law Center, anxious about what the upcoming request from Georgia Power will mean for the state’s energy future. The company has also been given the green light by state regulators to delay the retirement of its coal-burning plants Bowen in Bartow County and Scherer in Monroe County.

If Georgia Power’s projected electricity demands fall short, the company would still reap the financial benefits of adding new energy sources, said Jennifer Whitfield, SELC senior attorney.

“If you’re over projecting, and you don’t actually need to meet those demands, it’s not the Georgia Power shareholders who are going to pay for that,” Whitfield said. “ It’s going to be Georgia Power customers.

“That is a particular concern for overbuilding gas plants, because the cost of gas plants is for the fuel, and those costs get passed on directly to customers,” Whitfield said. “George Power customers, in particular, have seen a bunch of increases. They’ve had a rate increase. They’ve had Plant Vogtle increases. The largest increase they’ve seen in the last few years is actually from fuel costs.”

The Barclays research report found that sustainability appears to be a lower priority for the majority of data center companies.

“Data centre developers are prioritising land with access to untapped power sources, water, workforces and favourable regulation,” the report says. “With the current focus on building data centre capacity that prioritises secure access to power over specific fuel type, meeting rising electricity demand while lowering emissions will likely be a monumental challenge for grid operators,” the report says.

Whitfield said the commission has some ability to be creative with how it requires Georgia’s Power to diversify its sustainable energy portfolio. The company’s plans include some positives, she said, such as expanding solar and programs that benefit seniors living on fixed incomes.

“Is this going to be this moment where we decide, as Georgians, who we want to be? What kind of energy future do we want to have?” Whitfield said.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on Facebook and X.

Virginia’s air regulators are awaiting data from Dominion Energy to further process the utility’s air permit request for the natural gas plant they’re proposing to build to meet rising energy needs, as pushback over the location and potential environmental impact of the facility continues.

“We are expecting to receive air quality monitoring data … in the next couple of weeks or so,” said Mike Dowd, director of air and renewable energy at the Department of Environmental Quality, in an update to the State Air Pollution Control Board Thursday. “As soon as we get the air quality modeling data, we will be processing the permit.”

Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton confirmed to The Mercury that the utility is “currently planning to submit our modeling report to DEQ in early 2025.”

Dominion Energy, Virginia’s largest utility, is proposing the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center to meet increased energy demands expected to hit the state as a result of data center development. After local opposition, Dominion moved the proposed location from an industrial site on Battery Brooke Parkway to its former coal-fired Chesterfield Power Station on Coxendale Road. 

Construction is expected to start in 2026. It’s expected to be operational in 2029.

Environmental and community groups have staunchly fought against the project, saying it runs counter to the state’s 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act that mandates the retirement of fossil fuels by 2045, unless there’s a concern over being able to reliably send electricity to the grid. 

Critics also are concerned about the air pollution impacting the surrounding community.

The update on the timeline means next year “is going to be pretty busy in terms of the public engagement,” said Mason Manley, a field manger with Clean Virginia, an advocacy group formed by millionaire Michael Bills to oppose Dominion’s influence in the legislature. The public will likely have the chance to weigh in on both the air permit for the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center, as well as a separate Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from the State Corporation Commission, which regulates Virginia’s utilities, Manley said.

The air permit is expected to be issued by July 28, according to DEQ’s permitting website, with public engagement opportunities occurring before then. The CPCN is going to be requested “in the first quarter of 2025,” said Slayton, with Dominion.

Andy Farmer, a spokesperson for the SCC, said “It is too early to discuss an SCC public engagement process when an application hasn’t been filed.”

“After Dominion files the application, the SCC will issue an Order for Notice and Hearing that will include a hearing schedule and public comment opportunities,” Farmer said. 

Manley said the public engagement opportunity is when community members can make their case for a denial or express their concerns necessitating controls for emissions be put in place. Last month, community members held a “People’s Hearing” to collect public testimony that will be submitted to DEQ during the public engagement period.

“(The air permit) is extremely important, (Dominion) can’t actually begin construction until that is issued,” Manley said.

The timeline update comes as opposition continues over local approval of the land use for the project, which is considered one of the first requirements before the DEQ and SCC processes can finish.

On Monday, the Friends of the Chesterfield, a group formed to oppose the plant, filed another appeal with the Chesterfield County Board of Zoning Appeals over a decision to use a 2010 conditional use permit for the Coxendale Road site for the proposed plant.

Previously, the friends group challenged a zoning determination from Chesterfield County Deputy Administrator Jesse Smith, but the zoning board said that determination was made as part of the air permitting process under the air board’s authority, not its own. 

After the rejection, the friends group followed up with Chesterfield County Chesterfield County Planning Director Andrew Gillies with their own request for a zoning determination on using the conditional use permit for the new site. Gillies responded on Oct. 18 saying that the previous letter stating the existing conditional use permit applies to the proposed plant, “fully answers your letter.” 

Evan Johns, an attorney with Appalachian Mountain Advocates, which filed both appeals on behalf of the Friends group, said the second appeal is a response to a determination by Gillies, a zoning official, which the groups says is reviewable by the zoning board.

“It seems like a determination that can be reviewed,” said Johns.

Chesterfield County spokesperson Teresa Bonifas said, “We do not comment on pending or potential litigation.” The next zoning board meeting is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Another requirement for the air permit process is a determination of “site suitability.” As Chesterfield County has declined to make that determination, Dowd said “there hasn’t been a full resolution.”

“I assume this is all part and parcel with (the appeal),” Dowd said.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and X.

The proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) are based on the application of combustion controls and selective catalytic reduction (SCR).

EPA said the proposed standards would ensure that new turbines built at natural gas-fired plants or industrial facilities — especially large ones that could operate for decades — would be among the lowest-emitting turbines ever built.

To strengthen the NOx performance standards for new stationary combustion turbines, EPA is specifically proposing:

• To determine that combustion controls with the addition of post-combustion SCR is the best system of emission reduction (BSER) for most combustion turbines. Post-combustion SCR is already widely used in the power sector.
• To lower the NOx standards of performance for affected sources based on the application of the BSER.
• To establish more protective NOx standards for affected new sources that plan to fire or co-fire hydrogen, ensuring that these units have the same level of control for NOx emissions as sources firing natural gas or non-natural gas fuels. 

The proposed standards would establish size-based categories based on base load heat input. The proposed size-based categories include:

• Large combustion turbines — facilities with a base load heat input rating of > 850 MMBtu/h (> ~ 85 MW).
• Medium combustion turbines — facilities with a base load heat input rating of > 250 and ≤ 850 MMBtu/h (> ~ 25 MW and ≤ ~ 85 MW). 
• Small combustion turbines — facilities with a base load heat input rating of ≤ 250 MMBtu/h (≤ ~ 25 MW).

EPA is proposing to further subcategorize sources based on whether they operate at high, intermediate or low loads, as well as whether they burn natural gas or non-natural gas fuels. When classifying low, intermediate or base load units, EPA will consider the 12-calendar-month capacity factor of these combustion turbines.

• High load — capacity factor greater than 40% (i.e., base load).
• Intermediate load — capacity factor greater than 20% and less than or equal to 40%.
• Low load — capacity factor of less than or equal to 20%.

For non-EGU stationary combustion turbines, the capacity factor would be determined based on the prior 12 calendar months of data on a rolling basis updated each month.

EPA acknowledged that SCR technology becomes less cost-effective and efficient at smaller scales or variable operating levels. Therefore, the agency is proposing standards for certain combustion turbines relying on combustion controls instead of SCR. This applies to small turbines at low or intermediate loads, and medium and large turbines at low loads.

The agency estimated the proposal would reduce NOx emissions by 198 tons in 2027 and 2,659 tons in 2032. The present value of net benefits to society is estimated at up to $340 million, with an equivalent value of up to $46.4 million per year. 

NOx contributes to harmful health effects, such as asthma and respiratory infections. Children, the elderly, and people with chronic heart, lung or other cardiopulmonary diseases are most at risk. 

EPA is also proposing to maintain the current limits for sulfur dioxide, which is well-controlled in the sector based on the long-term required use of low-sulfur natural gas and distillate fuels.

The agency last established New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for stationary combustion turbines in 2006. The future of the proposal, as with other EPA power plant rules finalized in the last year, is unclear under the incoming Trump presidency.

EPA will accept comments for 90 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.

President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in his upcoming, second administration. Additionally, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, his choice to head the Interior Department, will also lead a newly created National Energy Council that will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world.

CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change, and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.

Frequently criticizing what he calls a “top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups, Wright has argued that the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” He has never served in government, but has written that more fossil fuel production is needed around the globe to lift people out of poverty.

Consideration of Wright to head the administration’s energy department won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm.

Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term. Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if reelected.

Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying group, said Wright’s experience in the energy sector “gives him an important perspective that will inform his leadership” of the Energy Department.

“We look forward to working with him once confirmed to bolster American geopolitical strength by lifting DOE’s pause on LNG export permits and ensuring the open access of American energy for our allies around the world,” Sommers said.

Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, called Wright “a champion of dirty fossil fuels” and said his nomination to lead the Energy Department was “a disastrous mistake.”

“The Energy Department should be doing all it can to develop and expand the energy sources of the 21st century, not trying to promote the dirty fuels of the last century,” Wong said. “Given the devastating impacts of climate-fueled disasters, DOE’s core mission of researching and promoting cleaner energy solutions is more important now than ever.”

Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to become chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Trump promised bold choices for his Cabinet, and Wright’s nomination delivers.

“He’s an energy innovator who laid the foundation for America’s fracking boom. After four years of America last energy policy, our country is desperate for a secretary who understands how important American energy is to our economy and our national security,″ Barrasso said.

If confirmed, Wright will join North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Trump’s choice to be interior secretary, as a key player on energy policy in a second Trump term. Wright will be a member of a new National Energy Council that Burgum will chair. The new panel will seek to establish U.S. “energy dominance” around the world, Trump said.

Thomas Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative group that supports fossil fuels, said Wright would be “an excellent choice” for energy secretary. Pyle led Trump’s Energy Department’s transition team in 2016.

Liberty is a major energy industry service provider, with a focus on technology. Wright, who grew up in Colorado, earned undergraduate degree at MIT and did graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California-Berkeley and MIT. In 1992, he founded Pinnacle Technologies, which helped launch commercial shale gas production through hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

He later served as chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before founding Liberty Resources in 2010.

National Energy Council

Burgum, in his new role, will oversee a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, Trump said.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump wrote.

The Republican president-elect accused the “radical left” of engaging in a war on American energy, in the name of fighting climate change. His policy of energy dominance, which he also espoused during his first term, will allow the U.S. to sell oil, gas and other forms of energy to European allies, making the world safer, Trump said.

Trump’s policies, if adopted, would represent a near-complete reversal from actions pursued by Democratic President Joe Biden, who has made fighting climate change a top priority and has pushed for more electric vehicles and stricter regulation of carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. Trump has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Biden’s landmark climate and health care bill and stop offshore wind development when he returns to the White House in January.

Trump, who has called oil “liquid gold,” said oil and natural gas, along with minerals such as lithium and copper, should be exploited to the maximum extent possible. “We will “DRILL BABY DRILL,” expand ALL forms of Energy production to grow our Economy, and create good-paying jobs,” Trump wrote.

Speaking to reporters at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort before his selection as interior secretary was announced Thursday night, Burgum said he and Trump are concerned about “the nexus between energy and inflation and the nexus between energy and national security.”

“Energy is a component of everything — it’s the clothes you wear, the food you eat,” Burgum said, adding that the U.S. needs to boost electricity production to meet increased demand from data centers and artificial intelligence.

“The AI battle affects everything from defense to healthcare to education to productivity as a country,″ Burgum said, referring to artificial intelligence. “And the AI that’s coming in the next 18 months is going to be revolutionary. So there’s just a sense of urgency and a sense of understanding in the Trump administration″ to address it.

Burgum, 68, was elected North Dakota governor in 2016, his first campaign for elected office. A former software executive, he led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. Burgum has also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.

Burgum, a Republican, has taken a pro-business style as governor of a state where agriculture and oil are the main industries. He’s pushed income tax cuts, reduced regulations, and changes to animal agriculture laws and higher education governance. Burgum also emphasized a “data-driven” approach to governing, advocated for a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in the state and prioritized engagement with tribal nations.

He ran for president in 2023, but dropped out after his bid failed to resonate. He later endorsed Trump.

Industry groups welcomed Burgum to the new administration and said Trump’s creation of an energy council signaled renewed emphasis on spurring domestic production and streamlining regulations.

Burgum’s “deep understanding of American energy resources and public lands positions him to tackle critical issues such as enhancing energy affordability … and strengthening the U.S. in the global energy marketplace,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, which promotes offshore drilling. Milito is a former vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s top lobbying group.

David Seabrook, president of The Wilderness Society, called Burgum “a longtime friend to fossil fuel interests” who played a role in an April event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to his campaign, with the expectation that he would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.

“The first Trump administration treated (public lands) like they’re meant to be dug up, drilled or sold off for profit,” Seabrook said. “Gov. Burgum’s long track record of pushing for unchecked fossil fuel development sends a loud signal about which path they will take this time around.”

Ameren Missouri would spend more than $61 million to offset its past clean air violations under a joint proposal filed Wednesday in federal court.

The St. Louis-based electric utility, which serves 1.2 million customers, has been in litigation for more than a decade over its Rush Island Energy Center, which operated for years in violation of the Clean Air Act.

Ameren shut down Rush Island last month rather than install pollution controls to bring it into compliance with clean air standards. 

In the joint proposal with the U.S. Department of Justice and the environmental nonprofit Sierra Club, Ameren agreed to spend $25 million to provide vouchers for at least 125,000 Missouri households to purchase High Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filters, prioritizing low-income communities.

Ameren would spend the remaining $36 million to help St. Louis-area school districts switch to electric buses. 

Federal officials will accept comments on the proposal, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, before submitting it to the court for approval.

In a statement, Jenn DeRose, a senior field organizer for Sierra Club, said Ameren must pay for having broken the law but “cannot bring back the innocent lives that utility executives cut short or repair the environmental harms of the illegal and toxic air pollution spewed by the coal plant.” 

“I cannot stress enough that civic leaders need to understand that Ameren’s unethical business decisions harm our communities,” DeRose said, “whether it’s polluting our air and water, slow-walking the transition from coal and gas to clean energy, or disconnecting people from electricity that they desperately need to survive.”

A spokesperson for Ameren said in an emailed statement that the Department of Justice resolves the case and “will fund the implementation of two mitigation relief programs, in addition to retiring the energy center.”

Rush Island operated without pollution controls for years, releasing more than 250,000 tons of excess sulfur dioxide. Shutting down the plant will prevent future emissions, but the agreement with federal officials and the Sierra Club is meant to offset the ones Ameren can’t take back.

Ameren opened Rush Island in the mid-1970s, narrowly avoiding a 1977 update to the Clean Air Act requiring pollution controls at newly-constructed coal plants. As long as Ameren didn’t make any upgrades beyond routine maintenance, it wouldn’t have to install the controls.

But the company updated Rush Island’s two units in 2007 and 2010 without installing pollution controls, violating the 1977 Clean Air Act update and sparking a lawsuit by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In 2019, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri Rodney Sippel ordered Ameren to obtain a permit, install scrubbers and lower its sulfur dioxide emissions. Sippel also ordered Ameren to install scrubbers to temporarily lower sulfur dioxide emissions at its larger Labadie Energy Center in Franklin County to make up for the excess emissions at Rush Island.

The 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in 2021 upheld Sippel’s order requiring Ameren to install scrubbers, but struck down the requirement at Labadie.

Later in 2021, Ameren announced it would retire Rush Island. It argued the retirement should mark the resolution of the lawsuit. But Sippel ordered Ameren and prosecutors to negotiate potential mitigation measures to make up for the sulfur dioxide emissions, which he said “harm public health and the environment, contribute to premature deaths, asthma attacks, acid rain and other adverse effects in downwind communities, including the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.”

Sippel’s order, issued in June, said over the 14 years since Rush Island’s second unit was updated without scrubbers installed, it has released 275,000 tons of sulfur dioxide. Ameren argues the figure is closer to 256,000 tons.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and X.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a Biden administration regulation aimed at limiting planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants to remain in place as legal challenges play out.

The court denied a push from Republican-led states and industry groups to block the Environmental Protection Agency rule. One justice, Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented.

Two other conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, said they thought challengers would likely win on at least some of their claims eventually, but the court didn’t need to block the rule now because compliance work wouldn’t have to begin until at least June 2025. The case could end up back before the high court relatively quickly.

Justice Samuel Alito did not take part.

The rule requires many coal-fired power plants to capture 90% of their carbon emissions or shut down within eight years, though deadlines do not take effect for several years.

The power industry is the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change, and the rule is a key part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050.

The high court earlier this month also left two other regulations in place for now, but other environmental regulations have not fared well before it in recent years. In 2022, the justices limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants with a landmark decision. In June, the court halted the agency’s air-pollution-fighting “good neighbor” rule.

Another ruling in June, overturning a decades-old decision known colloquially as Chevron, is also expected to make environmental regulations more difficult to set and keep, along with other federal agency actions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited that ruling in court papers supporting the challenge in the coal plant case.

An appeals court had allowed the EPA’s new power plant rule to go into effect.

A panel of three judges — two nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama and one by Republican President Donald Trump — found that the states were not at risk of immediate harm because compliance deadlines do not take effect until 2030 or 2032.

Environmental groups have said the standards are reasonable, cost-effective and achievable, and well within the EPA’s legal responsibility to control harmful pollution, including from greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Mining Association argued that the rules threaten the reliability of the nation’s power grid by forcing the premature closure of power plants as demand for electricity surges.

The EPA projects the rule would yield up to $370 billion in climate and health net benefits and avoid nearly 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047, equivalent to preventing annual emissions of 328 million gasoline-powered cars.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court left in place Friday two Biden administration environmental regulations aimed at reducing industry emissions of planet-warming methane and toxic mercury from power plants.

The justices did not detail their reasoning in the orders, which came after a flurry of emergency applications to block the rules from industry groups and Republican-leaning states. There were no noted dissents.

The high court is still considering challenges to a third Environmental Protection Agency rule aimed at curbing planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants.

The regulations are part of a broader effort by the Biden administration aimed at curbing climate change that includes financial incentives to buy electric vehicles and upgrade infrastructure, and rules tightening tailpipe pollution standards for cars and trucks.

The industry groups and states had argued the EPA overstepped its authority and set unattainable standards with the new regulations. The EPA, though, said the rules are squarely within its legal responsibilities and would protect the public.

An EPA spokesperson said Friday the agency is pleased that the Supreme Court denied applications to stay the final methane and mercury rules. EPA believes the rule tightening methane emissions from oil and gas drilling will deliver major climate and health benefits for all Americans, while the mercury rule will limit hazardous pollution from coal-fired power plants, spokesperson Remmington Belford said.

The methane rule will build on innovative technologies and solutions that many oil- and gas-producing states and companies are already using or have committed to use, while the mercury and air toxics rule “will ensure that the nation’s coal-fired power plants meet up-to-date standards for hazardous air pollutants,” Belford said.

Both rules are firmly grounded in the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act, he said.

The Supreme Court has shot down other environmental regulations in recent years, including a landmark decision that limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in 2022, and another that halted the agency’s air-pollution-fighting “good neighbor” rule.

The methane rule puts new requirements on the oil and gas industry, which is the largest emitter of the gas that’s a key contributor to climate change. A lower court previously refused to halt the regulation.
Methane is the main component in natural gas and is far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. Sharp cuts in methane emissions are a global priority — including the United States — to slow the rate of climate change.

The methane rule targets emissions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, rather than focusing only on new wells. It also regulates smaller wells that will be required to find and plug methane leaks.

Studies have found that smaller wells produce just 6% of the nation’s oil and gas but account for up to half the methane emissions from well sites. The plan also calls for a phased-in requirement for energy companies to eliminate routine flaring, or burning of natural gas that is produced by new oil wells.

The states challenging the rule called the new standards “impossible to meet” and said they amounted to an “attack” on the industry.

The mercury rule, meanwhile, came after a reversal of a move by the Trump administration. It updated regulations that were more than a decade old for emissions of mercury and other harmful pollutants that can affect the nervous system, kidneys and fetal development.

Industry groups and conservative-leaning states argued emissions were already low enough, and the new standards could force the shuttering coal-fired power plants.

The EPA said the updates are needed to protect public health.

David Doniger, senior attorney at Natural Resources Defense Council, called the two rules critical safeguards and applauded the court order leaving them in place. He also looked ahead to the still-undecided challenges to the power plant rule.

“The court should do the same with the effort to block EPA’s power plant carbon pollution standards, which comply with the very directions the court gave it in 2022,” Doniger said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency will not be able to enforce a key rule limiting air pollution in nearly a dozen states while separate legal challenges proceed around the country, under a Supreme Court decision Thursday.

The EPA’s “good neighbor” rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution.

Three energy-producing states — Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia — challenged the rule, along with the steel industry and other groups, calling it costly and ineffective.

The Supreme Court put the rule on hold while legal challenges continue, the conservative-led court’s latest blow to federal regulations.

The high court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has increasingly reined in the powers of federal agencies, including the EPA, in recent years. The justices have restricted EPA’s authority to fight air and water pollution, including a landmark 2022 ruling that limited EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.

The court is also weighing whether to overturn its 40-year-old Chevron decision, which has been the basis for upholding a wide range of regulations on public health, workplace safety and consumer protections.

A look at the good neighbor rule and the implications of the court decision.

What is the ‘good neighbor’ rule?

The EPA adopted the rule as a way to protect downwind states that receive unwanted air pollution from other states. Besides the potential health impacts from out-of-state pollution, many states face their own federal deadlines to ensure clean air.

States such as Wisconsin, New York and Connecticut said they struggle to meet federal standards and reduce harmful levels of ozone because of pollution from out-of-state power plants, cement kilns and natural gas pipelines that drift across their borders.

Ground-level ozone, commonly known as smog, forms when industrial pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, refineries and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight. High ozone levels can cause respiratory problems, including asthma and chronic bronchitis. People with compromised immune systems, the elderly and children playing outdoors are particularly vulnerable.

Judith Vale, New York’s deputy solicitor general, told the court that for some states, as much as 65% of smog pollution comes from outside its borders.

States that contribute to ground-level ozone must submit plans ensuring that coal-fired power plants and other industrial sites do not add significantly to air pollution in other states. In cases where a state has not submitted a “good neighbor” plan — or where EPA disapproves a state plan — a federal plan is supposed to ensure downwind states are protected.

What’s next for the rule?

The Supreme Court decision blocks EPA enforcement of the rule and sends the case back to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is considering a lawsuit challenging the regulation that was brought by 11 mostly Republican-leaning states.

An EPA spokesman said the agency believes the plan is firmly rooted in its authority under the Clean Air Act and “looks forward to defending the merits of this vital public health protection” before that appeals court.

The spokesman, Timothy Carroll, said the Supreme Court’s ruling will “postpone the benefits that the Good Neighbor Plan is already achieving in many states and communities.”

While the plan is on pause, “Americans will continue to be exposed to higher levels of ground-level ozone, resulting in costly public health impacts that can be especially harmful to children and older adults,” Carroll said. Ozone disproportionately affects people of color, families with low incomes, and other vulnerable populations, he said.

Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said he was pleased that the Supreme Court “recognized the immediate harm to industry and consumers posed by this reckless rule. No agency is permitted to operate outside of the clear bounds of the law and today, once again, the Supreme Court reminded the EPA of that fact.”

With a stay in place, Nolan said the mining industry looks forward to making its case in court that the EPA rule “is unlawful in its excessive overreach and must be struck down to protect American workers, energy independence, the electric grid and the consumers it serves,.”

Few states participate

The EPA rule was intended to provide a national solution to the problem of ozone pollution, but challengers said it relied on the assumption that all 23 states targeted by the rule would participate. In fact, only about half that number of states were participating as of early this year.

A lawyer for industry groups that are challenging the rule said it imposes significant and immediate costs that could affect the reliability of the electric grid. With fewer states participating, the rule may result in only a small reduction in air pollution, with no guarantee the final rule will be upheld, industry lawyer Catherine Stetson told the Supreme Court in oral arguments earlier this year.

The EPA has said power-plant emissions dropped by 18% in 2023 in the 10 states where it has been allowed to enforce its rule, which was finalized last year. Those states are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. In California, limits on emissions from industrial sources other than power plants are supposed to take effect in 2026.

The rule is on hold in another dozen states because of separate legal challenges. The states are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

Administrative overstep or life-saving protection?

Critics, including Republicans and business groups, call the good neighbor rule an example of government overreach.

The EPA rule and other Biden administration regulations “are designed to hurriedly rid the U.S. power sector of fossil fuels by sharply increasing the operating costs, … forcing the plants’ premature retirement,” Republican lawmakers said in a brief filed with the high court.

Supporters disputed that and called the “good neighbor” rule critical to address interstate air pollution and ensure that all Americans have access to clean air.

“Today’s move by far-right Supreme Court justices to stay commonsense clean air rules shows just how radical this court has become,” said Charles Harper of environmental group Evergreen Action.

“The court is meddling with a rule that would prevent 1,300 Americans from dying prematurely every year from pollution that crosses state borders. We know that low-income and disadvantaged communities with poor air quality will bear the brunt of this delay,” Harper said.

Roger Reynolds, senior legal director of the environmental group Save the Sound, said the decision hinders the EPA from protecting states such as Connecticut and New York that suffer from ozone pollution generated in the Midwest.

“We cannot reach healthy air quality for our residents without addressing upwind pollution, in addition to local sources,” Reynolds said.

The rule applies mostly to states in the South and Midwest that contribute to air pollution along the East Coast. Some states, such as Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin, both contribute to downwind pollution and receive it from other states.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is putting the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution-fighting “good neighbor” plan on hold while legal challenges continue, the conservative-led court’s latest blow to federal regulations.

The justices in a 5-4 vote on Thursday rejected arguments by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states that the plan was cutting air pollution and saving lives in 11 states where it was being enforced and that the high court’s intervention was unwarranted.

The rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. It will remain on hold while the federal appeals court in Washington considers a challenge to the plan from industry and Republican-led states.

The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has increasingly reined in the powers of federal agencies, including the EPA, in recent years. The justices have restricted the EPA’s authority to fight air and water pollution — including a landmark 2022 ruling that limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming. The court also shot down a vaccine mandate and blocked President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.

The court is currently weighing whether to overturn its 40-year-old Chevron decision, which has been the basis for upholding a wide range of regulations on public health, workplace safety and consumer protections.

Three energy-producing states — Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia — have challenged the air pollution rule, along with the steel industry and other groups, calling it costly and ineffective. They had asked the high court to put it on hold while their challenge makes it way through the courts.

The challengers pointed to decisions in courts around the country that have paused the rule in a dozen states, arguing that those decisions have undermined the EPA’s aim of providing a national solution to the problem of ozone pollution because the agency relied on the assumption that all 23 states targeted by the rule would participate.

The issue came to the court on an emergency basis, which almost always results in an order from the court without arguments before the justices.

But not this time. The court heard arguments in late February, when a majority of the court seemed skeptical of arguments from the administration and New York, representing Democratic states, that the “good neighbor” rule was important to protect downwind states that receive unwanted air pollution from other states.

The EPA has said power plant emissions dropped by 18% last year in the 10 states where it has been allowed to enforce its rule, which was finalized a year ago. Those states are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. In California, limits on emissions from industrial sources other than power plants are supposed to take effect in 2026.

The rule is on hold in another dozen states because of separate legal challenges. Those states are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

States that contribute to ground-level ozone, or smog, are required to submit plans ensuring that coal-fired power plants and other industrial sites don’t add significantly to air pollution in other states. In cases in which a state has not submitted a “good neighbor” plan — or in which the EPA disapproves a state plan — the federal plan was supposed to ensure that downwind states are protected.

Ground-level ozone, which forms when industrial pollutants chemically react in the presence of sunlight, can cause respiratory problems, including asthma and chronic bronchitis. People with compromised immune systems, the elderly and children playing outdoors are particularly vulnerable.

COLSTRIP, Mont. (AP) — Actions by President Joe Biden’s administration that could hasten closures of heavily polluting coal power plants and the mines that supply them are reviving Republican rhetoric about a so-called “war on coal” ahead of the November election.

The front line in the political battle over the fuel is in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana, a sparsely populated section of the Great Plains with the nation’s largest coal mines. It’s also home to a massive power plant in Colstrip, Montana, that emits more toxic air pollutants such as lead and arsenic than any other U.S. facility of its kind, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA last month finalized a suite of rules that could force the Colstrip Generating Station to shut down or spend an estimated $400 million to clean up its emissions within the next several years. Another proposal, from the U.S. Interior Department, would end new leasing of taxpayer-owned coal reserves in the Powder River Basin, clouding the future of mines including Westmoreland Mining’s Rosebud Mine that provides about 6 million tons of fuel annually for Colstrip.

Eight years ago during his first White House run, Donald Trump stoked populist anger against government regulation by highlighting anti-coal measures taken under former President Barack Obama. The latest moves against coal have teed up the issue again for Republicans seeking to unseat Biden in the November election. Some coal-state Democrats also raised concerns.

“This onslaught of new rules is going to kill jobs and will kill communities like Colstrip,” Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines said during a visit to Rosebud Mine this week with Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. “What will change this outcome is an election and a new administration.”

U.S. coal consumption dropped precipitously over the past decade as cheap natural gas and renewables expanded. Yet coal’s political potency endures as detractors try to further curb burning of the fuel that’s a major contributor to climate change and air pollution.

It remains an economic mainstay in communities such as Colstrip, generating jobs where workers can earn $100,000 annually, according to union officials.

The Biden administration defended the latest restrictions on coal as necessary to reduce harmful pollutants, improve public health and address court rulings over climate change.

A Biden campaign representative noted that coal’s decline continued during Trump’s presidency.

“There is no war on coal, there is only a fight for our energy future,” campaign spokesperson James Singer said. “Under President Biden, the United States is closer to energy independence than we have been in decades.”

Even with the ban on new coal leases, companies already hold leases on more than 4 billion tons of coal on taxpayer-owned lands. And administration officials say that’s enough to sustain mining for decades.

Supporters said the crackdown on pollution from coal plants was long overdue. Its origins trace to 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act that directed the EPA to set standards for pollution reduction technologies.

Dr. Robert Merchant, a pulmonologist from Billings, Montana, said research data is clear that pollution from Colstrip and other plants is linked to medical problems including cancers, developmental delays in children and heart attacks.

“The problem with Colstrip or any large industry like that is they’re very good at understanding the economics as it impacts their balance sheets and bottom line,” Merchant said. “Unfortunately, the health effects are not appearing on their bottom line.”

Representatives of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe had urged the Biden administration to adopt the pollution rules to protect air quality on their reservation just south of Colstrip.

The plant opened in the mid-1970s and was later expanded. It towers over Colstrip, a town of about 2,000 people. It’s linked to the Rosebud Mine by miles of conveyor belts that transport a steady supply of coal to the 1,480 megawatt plant, where it is burned to generate electricity for distribution across the state.

Brian Bird, president of Colstrip co-owner NorthWestern Energy, said the characterization of Colstrip by EPA Administrator Michael Regan during Congressional hearings as the “highest emitter in the country” was deceptive because of the plant’s size — one of the largest coal plants west of the Mississippi River. Bird said Colstrip was “in the middle of the pack” in terms of the amount of pollution per megawatt of power generated.

Some Democrats said federal agencies were moving too fast and too aggressively against coal.

Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester said the EPA rules “missed the mark” since it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars for Colstrip to come into compliance. In West Virginia — the second largest coal producer behind Wyoming — Sen. Joe Manchin accused Biden of trying to “score short-term political points” by issuing the new rules in an election year.

Manchin announced Friday that he was leaving the Democratic party and registering as an independent, citing the “partisan extremism” of the two major political parties.

Tester is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate heading into the election, with Republicans needing to pick up just two seats to retake control of the chamber.

His Republican challenger, Tim Sheehy, railed against the “Biden Tester climate cult” following announcement of the ban on new coal leases. Tester spokesperson Eli Cousin said the lawmaker was still reviewing the administration’s proposal.

Manchin is not seeking reelection when his term ends in January. Republican Gov. Jim Justice is running for the seat, and the EPA rules could help push voters into his corner as he faces Democrat Glenn Elliott, the mayor of Wheeling, West Virginia.

Elliott has advocated for more green energy in West Virginia but hasn’t commented on the EPA rules.

EPA officials pledged to work with the Colstrip plant’s owners “to help them find a path forward” in response to concerns from by Tester and other lawmakers. Agency officials said 93% of coal-fired plants had shown they could comply with the new air pollution standards.

“We gave plants the maximum amount of time to comply with the standards we are allowed to under the Clean Air Act — three years plus the possibility of a one-year extension,” EPA spokesperson Shayla Powell said in a statement.

___

Associated Press reporters Matthew Daly in Washington and Leah Willingham in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this story.