E.P.A. Rule Severely Limits Emissions From Coal Plants

美国环保署从严限制燃煤电厂污染

The Biden administration on Thursday placed the final cornerstone of its plan to tackle climate change: a regulation that would force the nation’s coal-fired power plants to virtually eliminate the planet-warming pollution they release into the air or shut down.

拜登政府周四为其应对气候变迁计划奠定最后一块基石：一项法规将迫使该国燃煤电厂实质上消除他们释放到空气中的全球暖化污染物，否则就要关闭。

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 timeline was welcomed by climate activists but condemned by coal executives who said the new standards would be impossible to meet.

美国环境保护署的这项法规，要求美国燃煤电厂在2039年前，减少90%温室气体污染，时间比环保署最初拟议早了一年。紧迫的时限受到气候倡议人士欢迎，但遭到燃煤电厂主管谴责，他们认为新的标准根本不可能达成。

The EPA also imposed three additional regulations on coal-burning power plants, including stricter limits on emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin linked to developmental damage in children, from plants that burn lignite coal, the lowest grade of coal. The rules also more tightly restrict the seepage of toxic ash from coal plants into water supplies and limit the discharge of wastewater from coal plants.

环保署也对燃煤电厂实施额外三条法规，包括更严格限制电厂燃烧褐煤造成的汞排放，汞是一种与伤害孩童发展有关的神经毒素，褐煤则是最低等级燃煤。这些法规也更严格管制来自燃煤电厂的有毒灰烬渗入水源，及限制燃煤电厂排放的废水。

Taken together, the regulations could deliver a death blow 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.

总而言之，这些法规可能在美国对燃煤造成致命打击，煤是上世纪大部分时间提供美国能源的燃料，但也造成全球环境破坏。煤燃烧时排放的二氧化碳，比其他任何燃料还多。

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.

关于电厂的新法规，是在拜登政府发布其他重大气候法规几周后推出，这些法规限制汽车和大型卡车排放，以设法加速采用电动车。交通运输和电力，在美国是造成气候变迁的碳排放两个最大来源。

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.

拜登总统想在这个十年结束前，将碳排放污染减少到2005年水平的50%，并在2035年前消除能源业的碳排放。

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.

周四宣布的电厂排放限制，也适用未来燃烧天然气的设施，要求他们捕捉自己的排放，或使用无污染燃料。目前运行中的天然气发电厂将被豁免。

文／Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport　 译／罗方妤