Sierra Club Responds to Republican Attacks on Carbon Pollution Standards

Washington, D.C. – At a U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing today, Republican politicians repeated disproven claims about the impact of the Biden administration’s proposed carbon pollution standards for fossil fuel power plants, wrongly alleging the standards would raise costs for consumers and threaten energy reliability. 

These urgently needed standards will help the U.S. curtail its greenhouse gas emissions and make progress toward achieving its international climate commitments. Through 2042, EPA estimates the climate and health benefits of the standards on new gas and existing coal-fired power plants are up to $85 billion, an annual net benefit of up to roughly $6 billion. 

Under EPA’s proposed standards, which set mandatory carbon dioxide limits under the Clean Air Act for existing coal plants and both new and existing gas plants, utilities and system operators have considerable flexibility to reduce carbon pollution while maintaining reliability as they comply with the proposed standards. States also have various pathways to achieve compliance with the proposed standards, and several years before any on-the-ground emissions reductions must occur. 

A recent analysis of 2022’s Winter Storm Elliot, which caused widespread power outages, revealed that nearly half of all unplanned outages in the deadly storm were caused by methane gas failures. By contrast, this summer–the hottest on record–renewable resources provided a critical “lifeline” to energy grids as fossil fuel resources failed due to extreme heat. Today, mature technologies like wind, solar, and battery storage can provide enough energy and capacity to avoid grid outages. 

"The true threat to energy reliability is insufficient action to address the climate crisis,” Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce said. “If we fail to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, extreme weather events will become even more frequent and severe, threatening our families, our economy, and our grid. While Republican politicians parrot claims pushed by their fossil fuel industry backers, the Biden administration is taking meaningful steps toward a more liveable future and reducing climate-destabilizing emissions at the source. We cannot afford to let political posturing hinder the progress we urgently need, and the Biden administration must continue to demonstrate climate leadership by finalizing strong carbon pollution standards.”

“EPA’s proposed standards do not require any fossil plants to reduce their operation or switch to renewable resources,” Sierra Club Senior Attorney Andres Restrepo said. “However, we expect many utilities and plant owners will choose to do so anyway rather than continuing to operate costlier, dirtier coal and gas plants, and that’s a great sign for energy reliability. The facts are clear: renewable energy is less expensive than most coal and gas plants, and renewable resources perform better than fossil plants during the kind of extreme weather events that challenge grid reliability.”