WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to split and delay its power-plant emissions rule, which excludes addressing more than 2,000 existing natural gas power plants, leaves fundamentally incomplete the regulation of more than one-third of power-sector greenhouse gases and one of the primary drivers of a public health crises in frontline communities.

“This rule constitutes important, but incremental and incomplete, progress on power plant emissions at the expense of people and wildlife. The cost of excluding existing natural gas power-plant pollution from this rule will be measured in shorter life expectancies, hospital bills, climate-fueled disasters, and degrees of global warming,” said Mustafa Santiago Ali, executive vice president of the National Wildlife Federation. “The White House is gambling on having more time to get it right when we know that natural gas power plants are emitting methane — one of the most potent greenhouse gases — and other dangerous chemicals, including mercury, particulate pollution, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides.”

“Although we are glad to hear the White House plans to work on another rule to address natural gas plant pollution that alters our climate and puts our hearts, minds, and lungs at risk, we cannot afford to wait years for that regulatory process to play out,” said Shannon Heyck-Williams, associate vice president of climate and energy for the National Wildlife Federation. “The EPA should use its power and responsibility under the Clean Air Act to ensure that this upcoming final rule does what it needs to do to address the climate crisis.”

According to EPA data, power plants are more likely to be located near historically marginalized communities. The chemicals and particulates emitted by power plants are, according to the American Lung Association, major contributors to premature deaths, respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and other debilitating conditions. Natural gas power plants are responsible, according to the Energy Information Administration, for “about 34 percent of total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions.”

Most natural gas plants have a 30-year lifespan. According to the Energy Information Administration, scheduled retirements of natural gas power plants in the United States represent only 0.5 percent of current gas capacity — a slowing rate.