WVCA responds to the final carbon emission regulations

The West Virginia Coal Association (WVCA) responds to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations concerning carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

“Today’s announcement by the Obama Administration of its adoption of the EPA’s ‘Costly Power Plan’ is yet another effort by this administration to hide its radical policies behind a façade of compromise,” commented Bill Raney, President of the West Virginia Coal Association. “This latest iteration of the EPA’s regulatory assault against coal-fired power generation is being presented as addressing the concerns of industry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, the final regulation tacks on a couple of years to the compliance timeline, but all this accomplishes is perpetuate uncertainty and provide more time for the rule to do more damage – irreversible damage – to the nation’s energy industry and electric grid.

The WVCA questions the plans, indicating it as the most expensive plan imposed on the US and will lead to higher electric rates as well as jeopardising power plants and affecting many jobs and lives across the US, while the plan will only reduce carbon emissions by 0.5%.

Raney continued: “Nearly 20% of the US coal fleet has already been retired or is now scheduled to retire, and almost all of those retirements are attributable to EPA policies. Retirements that were motivated by a rule that the Supreme Court invalidated and remanded back to a lower court earlier this year. Sadly most of the damage from that rule is done. Once coal plants retire, they can’t be brought back to generate electricity that has been essential during times of high demand in recent years. This further illustrates the danger of unbridled bureaucrats picking winners and losers and shaping energy policy for the nation.”

The WVCA has stated it will be taking action against the regulation through legal challenges every step of the process. Raney said the Association “applauds the Legislature and the Attorney General of West Virginia for their previous efforts to protect West Virginia’s coal miners and electric consumers from this reckless and expensive plan.

Edited from press release by Harleigh Hobbs

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/coal/04082015/wvca-responds-to-the-final-carbon-emission-regulations-265/