The “relentless offensive” faced by US regulators is responsible for existential crisis being faced by the US coal industry, according to Hal Quinn, President and CEO of the US National Mining Association (NMA).
Speaking at the Longwall USA tradeshow in Pittsburgh, Quinn refuted the arguments that economic conditions were driving the decline in the US coal industry, pointing out that, according to the Department of Energy’s 2016 Energy Outlook, coal-fired electricity generation would still rise through to 2025 but for US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan – which proposes to regulate greenhouse gas emissions for existing power plants.
“With that market-distorting policy, the government’s own experts show the impact on coal becomes more severe, forcing the closure of almost twice the coal-based capacity than under the current scenario,” Quinn said. “Contrary to the administration’s false narrative, this is not market driven. It is policy driven asset destruction and its attendant human toll on a massive scale.”
Quinn also criticised the administration’s reliance on regulation to drive through the Clean Power Plan, rather than congressionally authorised legislation.
The administration dismisses legal and legislative challenges to its latest regulations as obstructionism, said Quinn. Yet by refusing to submit its agenda to Congress for approval, the administration acknowledges that members of both parties have repeatedly rejected the very scheme the EPA now wants to impose on the country.
Written by Jonathan Rowland.