At an Environmental Protection Agency press conference Thursday announcing new relaxed coal regulations, an EPA official signaled for the video live feed to end just as Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler began to take questions from reporters. The new regulations will loosen CO2 emissions standards for new coal-fired power plants, making it cheaper to build new coal plants in the United States. The roll-out eliminates Obama-era restrictions on new coal plants that required them to include carbon capture systems. Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, argued that the systems, which are not yet used on a commercial scale, are “prohibitively expensive.” Nearly 40 percent of U.S. coal plants have shut down since 2010.
