The Biden administration on Thursday placed the finale cornerstone
of its plan to tackle
climate change: a regulation that would force the nation’s coal -fired power
plants to virtually
(almost幾乎；實際上；實質上)eliminate the planet-warming
pollution they release into the air or shut down.
The regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency
requires coal plants in the United States to reduce 90% of their greenhouse
pollution by 2039, one year earlier than the agency had initially proposed. The
compressed
(to press something into a
smaller space壓縮；壓緊)timeline was welcomed by climate
activists but condemned
by coal executives who said the new standards would be impossible to meet.
The EPA also imposed (to officially force a rule,
tax, punishment, etc. to be obeyed or received推行；強制實行) three additional regulations on coal-burning power plants,
including stricter limits on emissions of mercury, a
neurotoxin
(a susbstance that is
poisonous to nerve tissue:)linked to developmental damage in children,
from plants that burn lignite (a type of dark brown coal that is mainly used for
generating (= producing) electricity and produces more carbon dioxide when it
burns than other types of coal: 褐煤是一種低熱質的煤炭，是發育不完全，處於次煙煤和泥炭之間狀態的煤。在煤炭資源比較缺乏的地區應用比較廣泛，俄羅斯、美國、加拿大、印度、澳大利亞和歐洲一些國家都在開採，其中作為發電廠燃料應用比較廣泛的有希臘，占電廠總燃料的50%，在德國占25%。[1]全世界褐煤總儲量估量4兆噸，占全世界煤炭總儲量40%。 )coal, the lowest grade to coal. The rules also more tightly restrict
the seepage
(a process in which a
liquid flows slowly out of a hole or through something: 滲出;滲漏)of toxic ash from coal plants into water supplies and limit the discharge (to send out a substance,
especially waste liquid or gas排放，排出（尤指廢液或廢氣）)of
wastewater from coal plants.
Taken together, the regulations could
deliver a
death blow (「death blow」意為「致命的一擊」或「致命的打擊」，既可以指實際殺死生物的攻擊，也可以比喻某事（如計劃、希望）被徹底終結的因素。) in the United States to coal, the fuel that powered the country
for much of the last century but has caused global environmental damage. When
burned, coal emits more carbon dioxide than any other fuel source.
The new rules regarding power plants come
weeks after the administration’s other major climate regulations to limit
emissions from cars and large trucks in a way that is designed to speed the adoption of electric
vehicles. Transportation and electric power are the two largest sources in the
United States of the carbon pollution that is driving climate change.
President Joe Biden wants to cut that
pollution about 50% from 2005 levels by the end of this decade, and to
eliminate emissions from the power sector by 2035.
The limits on power plant emissions announced Thursday would also apply to future facilities that burn gas, requiring them to capture their emissions or to use a fuel that is nonpolluting. Gas-fired power plants that are currently in operation would be exempt. (to excuse someone or something from a duty, payment, etc.免除，豁免（責任、付款等）)(Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport)
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