WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency says it is on pace to release its new draft standards for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants by June 1.
"EPA is on track to meet the June 1 goal that's part of the President's Climate Action Plan," EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said in an email statement to reporters Thursday evening. President Barack Obama asked the agency to draft the rule by June 2014 in the climate address he gave at Georgetown University last June. The EPA has already issued rules for new power plants; the forthcoming rules deal with the plants already in operation.
The statement apparently came in response to questions from reporters after Deputy EPA Administrator Bob Perciasepe said at a White House event Thursday that the rule would be released in "late June, maybe even the end of June," according to Politico's Morning Energy.
Forty-one percent of U.S. emissions come from power plants. EPA chief Gina McCarthy has said that the forthcoming rules will set standards that states will need to meet, but that states will be allowed to determine how to meet them. That could include both improved efficiency and an increased use of renewables.
The EPA sent its draft of the rules to the Office of Management and Budget for review on March 28, but details on the contents have been scant so far. "The proposal is still in interagency review," said Purchia. "We are not going to comment on anything that may or may not be part of what's released on June 1."
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