The Obama administration will unveil on Friday new regulations expected to set strict limits on the amount of carbon pollution generated by any new U.S. power plants, and which is certain to face legal challenges and a backlash from congressional supporters of the coal industry.
The Environmental Protection Agency's long-awaited guidelines are expected to make it more difficult for new coal-fired power plants to be built.
The rules, which are a revision of a previous attempt by the EPA to create emissions standards for fossil fuel plants, are the first salvo in President Barack Obama's climate change package, announced in June.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy is expected to discuss the new rules and defend Obama's climate plan, which opponents in Congress say amounts to a "war on coal," during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday morning.
Any new coal plant built in the United States would need to install technology to capture its carbon emissions, according to sources familiar with the plan.
That technology is controversial because it is currently not yet operational on a commercial scale, an issue that could become central to legal challenges to the EPA.
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