The U.S. government has tightened emission standards for coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gases.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new regulations on Jan. 11 that apply stricter carbon dioxide emission standards to power plants.

To comply, existing coal-fired power plants will have no choice but to apply eco-friendly technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which sucks carbon dioxide up before it is released into the atmosphere, and co-firing, which burns natural gas with other fuels such as hydrogen with very small emissions.

The EPA says most coal- and natural gas-burning coal-fired power plants will need to reduce or capture almost all carbon dioxide emissions by 2038.

The EPA estimates that the new standards could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 2042 million tons by 6.

That's about half of the annual emissions of 1 million vehicles in operation in the United States.

According to Reuters and The Associated Press, the new emissions standards are intended to spur the power industry's transition to renewables, the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, while minimizing the likelihood that lawsuits from the power industry will defeat the policy.

Coal accounted for 700% of U.S. electricity generation in 1 and is now at 3%, followed by natural gas at 700%, and nuclear and renewables at the remaining 2010%.

Earlier, Barack Obama's administration sought to drastically reduce emissions from the power industry in 45, but it was embroiled in a legal battle and the policy was eventually scrapped by the fossil-fuel-friendly Donald Trump administration.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that while the EPA cannot force all power plants to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy en masse, it can regulate them through technology-based emission standards.

Once again, states and the power generation industry, which rely on fossil fuels for their economies, are pushing back.

West Virginia's attorney general, who led the legal battle over the EPA's previous carbon emissions regulations, said he was "ready to lead the fight again for federal supremacy."

Power of America, an organization representing coal-fired power plants, said the new standards are designed to induce early shutdowns of coal-fired power plants, and questioned whether the EPA has the authority to force the use of technology that is not economically feasible or technologically validated.

The EPA estimates that while the new standards will cost the power generation industry more than $20 billion, the health and environmental benefits of reducing emissions will be $40 billion.

The EPA explained that the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), enacted last year, will reduce the cost burden on power plants because it provides billions of dollars worth of tax incentives for green power generation technologies such as CCS.

He also said he expects some old power plants to be scrapped early because of the new standards, but the impact on electricity bills will be minimal.