Eight months ago, President Joe Biden signed into law one of the biggest clean-energy spending packages the world has ever seen, dangling hundreds of billions of dollars in carbon-cutting carrots for everything from zero-carbon power stations and electric vehicles to lithium mining and hydrogen fuel pipelines.
Now comes the stick. Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed the nation’s strictest standards ever on tailpipe pollution from new cars and trucks sold starting in 2027, giving automakers the option to comply by simply manufacturing more electric vehicles.
Next, the agency is expected to outline an even bigger regulatory step: the United States’ first major controls on greenhouse gases from power plants.
The two regulations would work in tandem to slash overall emissions in the world’s largest economy. The coal and gas it takes to charge an electric car can produce more greenhouse gas than an internal combustion engine vehicle would emit from its…
