New York state adopts rules to phase out coal power plants by 2020

[NEW YORK] New York environmental regulators adopted rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that will force generators to stop burning coal in the state by 2020

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement on Thursday that the new carbon reduction rule delivers on his 2016 pledge to eliminate the use of coal for power generation by 2020.

There are four coal-fired power plants in New York; however, some have not operated or burned coal in recent years.

Those plants include units at Cayuga Operating Co's Cayuga, NRG Energy Inc's Dunkirk and Somerset Operating Co's Somerset.

NRG, which mothballed the Dunkirk plant in 2016, dropped a plan to convert it from coal to gas in 2018.

In addition to the carbon rules, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation proposed regulations earlier this year that would restrict nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from small natural gas-fired peaking power plants.

Mr Cuomo said the emission control rules will help move the state closer to meeting the Green New Deal he announced in 2019, which requires the state's power to be 100 per cent carbon-free by 2040.

The state has also mandated that 70 per cent of its electricity come from renewable sources by 2030. New York currently gets about 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, according to federal energy data.

REUTERS