Today, the EPA unveiled its long-awaited power plant emissions rules. As expected, existing gas-fired plants are excluded, and the proposal relies heavily on so-called carbon capture technologies that have so far been a dramatic and expensive failure. 

Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement in response: 

“For years, the dirty energy industry has promoted carbon capture as a solution to the climate crisis. But billions of dollars have been wasted trying to make this flawed technology work. The EPA’s new rulemaking once again claims that carbon capture is an effective means of reducing climate pollution, even though it has never worked in the real world.

“The Biden administration must take aggressive actions outside of this rulemaking to rein in fossil fuels – primarily by using existing federal authority to halt new drilling and fracking, and stop new fossil fuel infrastructure like power plants, pipelines and export terminals. Pretending that carbon capture can dramatically reduce climate pollution is nothing but a dangerous fantasy.”