EPA Administrator Michael Regan on Tuesday backed his agency’s new power plant standards in a fiery exchange with a Republican lawmaker.
Regan was on Capitol Hill, testifying before the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees EPA. He was there to discuss the Biden administration’s budget request for the agency but also had to defend recently finalized regulations that have met fierce resistance from GOP officials and industry groups.
Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), who served as Interior secretary during the Trump administration, pressed Regan on EPA’s move to limit mercury air emissions from power plants. The rule was announced last week as part of a suite of actions centered on fossil fuel power.
Zinke said with the mercury standard, EPA was targeting America’s electricity producers that would bring power offline, focusing on Colstrip, a coal-fired power plant in a Montana community of the same name.
