You may have noticed that in recent weeks, the Biden administration has been rolling out a hell of a lot of new regulations. Earlier this month it was big student loan reforms and a massive improvement in how public lands are managed, then this week we had better pay and working conditions for working Americans, minimum staffing ratios for nursing homes, and even improved service on airlines.

That’s not only because it’s an election year, though Joe & Kamala certainly do like to point out that where the Other Guy rages (and wants to raise inflation!) they’ve been busy making Americans’ lives better. But the bigger reason is that the administration wants to get new rules finalized prior to May, to keep them from being tossed out in the next Congress via the Congressional Review Act, which Donald Trump and his cronies used to reverse a bunch of Barack Obama’s environmental regulations.

. . . The requirement that coal plants find a way to eliminate 90 percent of their emissions by 2032 effectively accelerates the end of coal for power generation, which was inevitable anyway. Roughly 70 percent of US coal plants have already closed, and last year, coal generated only 16 percent of electric power, a new record low. In addition to the emissions rule, three other final rules also impose strict new limits on mercury, coal ash, and pollution of wastewater, to put an end to the environmental degradation caused by coal.

. . . The other option, obviously, would be for utilities to meet coming demand with renewables, as administration officials pointed out when previewing the new rule. Thanks to the IRA’s hundreds of billions of dollars in incentives, carbon-free power generation, including battery storage, already beats the cost of building new gas plants. Going forward, the administration is confident renewables will be the far more cost-effective and reliable way to meet increasing demand by 2032, when the emissions limits fully kick in.

  • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    We invented that phrase, Republicans just stole it and tried to use it (badly). They can’t come up with anything new. Even The Cheeto’s favorite phrase “witch hunt” was stolen from Democrats criticizing the Republican attacks on the Clintons.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      The phrase is much older than the Clintons’ problems with Republicans. Allusions to Salem are at least as old as McCarthyism.

      • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        6 months ago

        Thanks, Captain Pedantry

        Republicans still adopted it after that instance because they’re too stupid to have read it before then.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          Thanks, Captain Pedantry

          You’re welcome, citizen! I’m glad I could inform you that things happened before the Clintons.