[(Title)] Trump prepares to gut Obama's signature anti-coal climate rule.

The Trump administration is expected as soon as this week to unveil a proposal to replace the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama's signature initiative to combat climate change, with a narrower rule more friendly to industry.

预计特朗普政府将在本周公布一项取代清洁能源计划的提案，该计划是前总统•奥巴马应对气候变化的标志性举措，其规则对行业更为友好。

The 2015 Clean Power Plan, which was never implemented because of a Supreme Court stay, required states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030, by shifting away from coal plants.

《2015年清洁电力计划》由于最高法院的继续实施而从未得到实施，它要求各州通过从燃煤发电厂迁出，到2030年将二氧化碳排放量降低到2005年水平以下，比2005年水平低32%。

It was the pledge that underpinned the U.S.' commitment to the Paris climate change agreement before President Trump rejected the deal.

在特朗普总统拒绝这项协议之前，这是美国对《巴黎气候变化协议》的承诺。

In choosing to replace the Clean Power Plan, rather than repeal it outright,

选择取代清洁电力计划，而不是彻底废除，

the Environmental Protection Agency is acknowledging the federal government is legally obligated to regulate emissions of carbon and other greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

环境保护局承认联邦政府有法律义务管制导致全球变暖的碳和其他温室气体的排放。

"If they don't do anything about it, the next administration might adopt a worse regulation, so this is checking the box for the coal fleet on carbon regulation in the near-term,"  Paul Bailey, president emeritus and former CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, told the Washington Examiner.

“如果他们对此没有采取任何措施，下一届政府可能会采取更严厉的监管，因此这将在短期内检查煤炭船队的碳监管框架，”荣誉总裁兼前任首席执行官保罗·贝利，美国洁净煤电联盟告诉华盛顿审查员。

Trump administration opponents say the EPA is only acting out of legal desperation, and that its proposal would not significantly cut carbon emissions because it would help keep alive coal plants that would otherwise retire.

特朗普政府的反对者说，美国环保局只是出于法律上的绝望，它的提案不会大幅减少碳排放，因为这有助于维持本来会退役的煤炭发电厂。

"We don't think they should limit themselves in the way they are expected to,"  said David Doniger, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate and clean energy program.  "It shows a lack of seriousness. The purpose of this plan is not to do nothing. It's to prop up the coal industry."

“我们不认为他们应该以他们预期的方式限制自己，”自然资源保护委员会气候和清洁能源计划主任David Doniger说。 “这表明缺乏严肃性。这个计划的目的不是什么都不做。这是为了支撑煤炭行业。”

The Trump administration argues that Obama based the Clean Power Plan on an overbroad interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and that it would be costly to implement, and have negligible impact on cutting carbon emissions.

特朗普政府争辩说，奥巴马以《清洁能源法》过于宽泛的解释为基础，实施这项计划代价高昂，对减少碳排放的影响微乎其微。

Under the rule, the EPA gave each state a target for reducing emissions and encouraged power plants to meet those levels by moving away from coal to natural gas and transitioning to wind and solar power.

根据规定，环保局为每个州设定了减少排放的目标，并鼓励发电厂达到这些水平，从煤炭转向天然气，向风能和太阳能过渡。

Experts and industry officials expect the rewritten rule to regulate power plants individually.

专家和行业官员预计改写后的规则将单独监管发电厂。

The EPA would mandate heat rate improvements in power plants, enabling them to run more efficiently by burning less coal to produce the same amount of electricity.

EPA将要求提高发电厂的热耗率，通过燃烧更少的煤来生产同样数量的电力，使它们能够更有效地运行。

The Trump administration is expected to pair that component with reforms to a process known as New Source Review, or NSR.

预计特朗普政府将对这部分内容进行改革，即所谓的“新源头审查”(NSSR)。

The program forces power plants to undergo new pollution reviews when they upgrade facilities, which operators say is so expensive and time-consuming that it discourages utilities from making efficiency improvements.

该方案迫使发电厂在升级设施时接受新的污染审查，运营者说，这种审查费用高昂，耗费时间，阻碍了公用事业提高效率。

Under changes sought by the EPA, power plants could make upgrades without triggering those extra reviews.

在EPA要求的更改下，发电厂可以进行升级而不会引发这些额外的审查。

"We can do these efficiency upgrades we have wanted to do with NSR reform, and that may help the economics of coal units,"  Michelle Bloodworth, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, told the Washington Examiner.

美国洁净煤电联盟主席兼首席执行长米歇尔·布卢德沃思在华盛顿考试说：“我们能够提高效率，因为我们所希望的，是NSR的改革，这有助于煤炭单位的经济。”

Critics say the benefits of reducing emissions from better efficiency would be overcome by the extra use of a coal plant that should be replaced by a less polluting energy source, such as natural gas.

批评人士说，提高效率降低排放的好处将通过额外使用煤炭厂来克服，而煤炭厂应该由更少污染的能源取代，如天然气。

"The efficiency upgrades would have negligible impact on emissions, or would be downright counterproductive,"  Richard Revesz, an environmental law professor at New York University,

纽约大学(NewYorkUniversity)环境法教授理查德?雷维斯(RichardRevesz)说：“提高效率对排放的影响是微不足道的，或者只会适得其反。

told the Washington Examiner.  "It's an effort to continue the operation of plants that have been obsolete for decades. There is no economic or environmental justification for doing that."

告诉华盛顿审查员。“这是为了继续运营已经废弃了几十年的工厂。这样做没有经济或环境上的理由。"

EPA is also likely to give more discretion to states to write their own regulations. An unpublished draft of the plan reported by Politico showed that EPA could allow states to opt out of regulating carbon emissions.

EPA也可能赋予各国更多的酌处权，让各国自行制定法规，而政治局报告的一份未公布的计划草案显示，EPA允许各州选择不监管碳排放。

Joseph Goffman, a chief architect of the Clean Power Plan who was the lead attorney at the EPA when the Obama administration created the rule, said giving states too much power would be legally dubious.

美国环保局(EPA)首席设计师约瑟夫?戈夫曼(JosephGoffman)表示，赋予国家太多权力在法律上是可疑的。

He says the Clean Air Act only allows states to devise implementation plans to meet carbon emission reduction standards set by the federal government, and does not permit states to set its own rules, or ignore national ones.

他说，《清洁空气法》只允许各州制定执行计划，以满足联邦政府规定的碳排放减少标准，不允许各州制定自己的规则，或忽视国家的规则。

"The power system operates on a statewide basis, so it's crazy to create a balkanized system where some states have plans and some states opt out,"  Goffman told the Washington Examiner.  "We are dealing with a global pollutant.

戈夫曼告诉华盛顿检查官说：“电力系统在全国范围内运作，因此，在一些州有计划，有些州则选择退出，建立捆绑式系统是疯狂的。”

The structure of the Clean Air Act anticipated all of this by not turning everything over to states and mandating EPA set national standards."

《清洁空气法》的结构预见到了所有这一切，它没有把所有事情都移交给各州，并要求环保局制定国家标准。

Many companies and states are moving away from coal even without a regulation, opting for cheaper natural gas or renewable power because it makes economic sense to do so.

许多企业和州甚至在没有规章制度的情况下也在迁离煤炭，选择使用更便宜的天然气或可再生能源发电，因为这样做在经济上是合理的。

The U.S. is already on pace to meet the Clean Power Plan's emissions reduction goals without it ever taking effect.

美国已经加快了实现《清洁能源计划》减排目标的步伐，但这项计划没有生效。

Environmentalists say this means the EPA should be acting more ambitiously.

环保人士说，这意味着环保局应该表现得更加模棱两可。

"The underlying problem of carbon pollution is still very present,"  Doniger said.  "We need to cut carbon pollution much faster than the Clean Power Plan would have done in order to protect ourselves, our kids, and the planet."

“碳污染的根本问题依然存在，”多尼格尔说，“我们需要比清洁电力计划更快地减少碳污染，以保护我们自己、我们的孩子和地球。”

The coal industry also has concerns, recognizing a weaker Clean Power Plan could stave off its death, but fail to help coal stay competitive.

煤炭行业也存在问题，认识到较弱的清洁电力计划可能会避免煤炭死亡，但不能帮助煤炭保持竞争力。

Bloodworth is seeking changes in competitive electricity markets that would reward coal with higher payments because it can store fuel on-site, making it easy to access if the power grid was damaged by weather, or attacked.

Bloodworth正在寻求竞争电力市场的变化，这些市场将奖励煤炭，因为煤炭可以在现场储存燃料，如果电网受到天气破坏或受到攻击，很容易进入煤炭市场。

Trump has ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to use emergency authority to subsidize money-losing coal and nuclear plants.

特朗普已下令能源部长瑞克·佩里利用紧急授权补贴亏损的煤炭和核电厂。

"Revising the Clean Power Plan is necessary, but not sufficient,"  Bloodworth said.  "I don't think it will bring back coal, but I would hope it would postpone the impact it has on future retirements."

布卢沃思说：“修改清洁电力计划是必要的，但不够。”我认为它不会重新燃煤，但我希望这会对未来的退休产生影响。”