EPA’s new power plant rules threaten to make rolling blackouts more common

The Environmental Protection Agency’s new rules for natural gas and coal-fired power plants are aimed at eliminating nearly all of their carbon emissions by 2040, but those who provide and distribute the nation’s power say it will undermine the grid by forcing plants that generate most of the nation’s electricity to shut down or use less reliable green sources. 

Critics warn that if the new rules are adopted, the rolling blackouts that threatened California and Texas last summer and power outages such as those that afflicted eight states during bitter-cold temperatures over the Christmas holiday could become the norm in many areas of the country.