Federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy told members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Wednesday coal will still play a sizeable role in the nation’s power generation capacity even if newly proposed emission regulations for existing power plants are enacted.

“If you look at our analysis, it shows coal in 2012 actually generated about 37 percent of the electricity,” McCarthy testified. “What we’re projecting is in 2030, that’s going to be about 30 percent.”

McCarthy defended Obama Administration proposals aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. She insisted the only regulation set in stone is the lowering of the emission standard, any other part of the proposal was only suggested ways for states to achieve the new standards. She claimed before the committee the plan offered broad flexibility to each state on how to achieve the goal of reducing emissions in power generation.

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