But it’s coming.
Environment & Energy Daily reports,
U.S. EPA appears to be delaying a proposal for cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants until sometime in February, an agency spokesman confirmed yesterday.
“EPA is on track to propose GHG standards for new power plants early this year,” the agency said in a statement to E&E Daily. “We continue to work with OMB [Office of Management and Budget] through the interagency review process and will issue the proposal when that review is complete”…
Potential critics of the proposal said politics may be playing a hand in the delay as President Obama’s re-election bid ramps up.
Jeff Holmstead of Bracewell & Giuliani, who was EPA air chief during George W. Bush’s administration, said the limits could very likely put a burden on coal plant operators in coal-rich states like Ohio and Pennsylvania — states that could prove pivotal to Obama’s re-election prospects.
“Do you really want to be dogged with that issue?” Holmstead said.
Holmstead added that even if EPA does release the proposal, there is “no way” they can finalize the rule before the November election.