New Federal Standards Will Cut Climate-Warming Pollution from Oklahoma Coal and Gas Plants

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a package of four federal rules that will cut air and water pollution from power plants across the country. The new carbon pollution standards, in particular, will impact Oklahoma power plants and the communities that have breathed in their pollution for generations. Specifically, it will reduce carbon pollution from new gas-fired power plants and – for the first time – will require existing coal-fired plants to reduce carbon pollution, addressing climate change and improving air quality for Oklahoma families. 

The carbon pollution rule will notably impact the Sooner and Muskogee coal plants operated by Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E), requiring both to install carbon capture systems (CCS) if they continue operation beyond the year 2039. This will reduce the plants’ significant greenhouse gas pollution, which contributes to climate change. Prior to these rules, existing coal plants across the nation have released unlimited amounts of greenhouse gas emissions year after year, and the weak standards for new coal plants were negligible. 

"Many customers are unhappy with OG&E’s dirty, expensive Sooner and Muskogee coal plants polluting Oklahoma air. Here in Norman, the utility's franchise agreement has failed to win voter approval twice because they will not commit to reducing reliance on fossil fuels and performing needed infrastructure improvements,” said Lew Goidell, a Norman resident, retired environmental scientist, and member of the Red Earth Group of the Sierra Club. “Across the state, we care about paying our bills, our families breathing healthy air, and actions that impact future generations of Oklahomans. The EPA’s finalized carbon pollution rule will help level the playing field to clean the air and reduce climate-warming emissions for future generations. OG&E should plan now for how it will comply with this greatly needed standard and move toward a more sustainable future."

The EPA estimates that the carbon pollution standards will avoid over 1.4 billion metric tons of CO2 pollution nationwide through 2047 and will deliver up to $370 billion in net climate and public health benefits over the next 25 years. To comply with the rule, new gas plants can limit their harmful carbon pollution through installing and using CCS technology or limiting their generation. 

Details on the Four EPA Rules Announced Today
Over one million people submitted public comments on the proposals to strengthen the following federal standards.

Carbon Pollution Standards:

• Today’s final rule does not address pollution from gas plants currently in operation. In February, the EPA announced the agency is currently working on issuing a new proposal to reduce carbon pollution from those sources along with safeguards against other harmful air emissions from gas plants.

Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS): 

• These protections against heavy metals, mercury, and other hazardous emissions from coal-fired power plants will help protect vulnerable communities from some of the most dangerous types of air pollution, including cancer-causing agents and neurotoxins.

• The final updates to MATS will require the most polluting coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions of toxins such as chromium and arsenic by adopting cost-effective, readily available pollution controls. The updates also will finally require plants that burn lignite, or brown coal – almost all of which are located in Texas and North Dakota – to comply with the same standards as other coal plants.

Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs), or coal wastewater standards:

• These updated standards will improve upon existing safeguards by requiring further reduction in toxic wastewater discharged by coal-fired power plants through cost-effective and readily available control technologies. These plants are among the largest sources of hazardous wastewater pollutants like arsenic and mercury in the nation. 

• The final guidelines also eliminate toxic scrubber and bottom ash wastewater discharges and address sludge collected at the bottom of coal ash landfills, which is often held for years then released into nearby rivers.

Coal Ash Standards:

• These updated standards will protect the public from millions of tons of toxic coal ash sitting in old landfills and ponds across the country previously exempt from federal regulations. 

• The updates to federal standards for coal ash will regulate coal ash disposed of in old landfills and other fill areas at power plants, not just ash in “active” landfills. For the first time, the rule will also regulate the many coal ash ponds located at retired power plants, called legacy ponds.