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The EPA's new rules are expected to be finalized before

July 11, 2018 by Paul Fletcher

The EPA's new rules are expected to be finalized before the end of the year, and the new regulations will likely be finalized by 2017.

The Clean Power Plan (CPP), a US power regulator, is also expected to be finalized by the end of the year. (The Obama administration has announced it will start a review of the CPP by this year.)

"It's just a matter of time before we can actually get all of this done, but we need the government and the coal industry to put in place the proper regulations that allow them to do it," said Chris Hedges, executive director of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a non-profit group based in Washington, DC.

Emissions from older coal plants could be expected to decline, as do pollution from newer coal plants, though the EPA is not yet able to determine exactly what that will mean. The agency was able to find a way to reduce emissions through a rule called the Renewable Energies Standard, which the Obama administration announced last year.

A recent study by the nonprofit Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), in partnership with industry, found that while coal-fired plants were the most polluting source of pollution, coal-fired power plants are also the most polluting source of carbon in the US.

The EPA's rule, which is based on a review of the Environmental Protection Agency's recent review, is also expected to be finalized by the end of the year.