WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- A critic says the U.S. government is harming the future of coal power by proposed emission rules though a supporter hailed it as a victory for the environment.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced plans Tuesday to impose rules that would put a limit on emissions from new power plants. The EPA said the proposed standards are in line with trends in natural gas while also charting a path toward less-polluting facilities.
During testimony over the proposal, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., chairman of the House Environment and Energy Subcommittee, said the EPA plans would spell the end of the coal industry in the United States.
"You're not admitting the burden that is taking down coal-fired power plants today," he told EPA Assistant Administrator Gina McCarthy. "So you're already taking the ones out today, through current regulation, and you're going to take out the next generation of coal through greenhouse gas (regulation)."
But Joe Mendelson, climate policy director for the National Wildlife Federation, said the EPA proposal was a victory.
"This is a milestone in the fight to rein in climate change that seriously threatens people and wildlife," he said in a statement.
Mendelson was co-counsel in the 2007 case before the Supreme Court that determined carbon dioxide was a pollutant governed by the Clean Air Act.
