WEST VIRGINIA – Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. The rules are a key part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 and economy-wide by 2050.
But, that announcement has West Virginia officials coming out swinging against that rule.
Senator Shelley Moore Capito Released the following statement:
“With the latest iteration of the illegal Clean Power Plan 2.0 announced today, President Biden has inexplicably doubled down on his plans to shut down the backbone of America’s electric grid through unachievable regulatory mandates. Electricity demand is set to skyrocket thanks in part to the EPA’s own electric vehicles mandate, and unfortunately, Americans are already paying higher utility bills under President Biden. Despite all this, the administration has chosen to press ahead with its unrealistic climate agenda that threatens access to affordable, reliable energy for households and employers across the country.
“To protect millions of Americans, including energy workers, against executive overreach that has already been tried and rejected by the Supreme Court, I will be introducing a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to overturn the EPA’s job-killing regulations announced today.”
Today’s EPA rules impose a one-two punch of burdensome emissions requirements on existing coal-fired power plants and newly constructed gas-fired power plants. EPA Administrator Michael Regan has already announced plans to issue additional regulations covering existing natural gas power plants after November.
During the Obama administration, the EPA attempted to impose a similar slate of rules and regulations aimed at shutting down baseload power plants, which the Supreme Court later overturned in West Virginia v. EPA.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey released the following statement:
“This new rule would strip the states of important discretion while using technologies that don’t work in the real world—so it sets up the plants to fail. These plants, which are an essential part of our power grid, will be unable to meet the standards dictated by the EPA, leaving them with no other option but to cease operations,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “We will be challenging this rule. The U.S. Supreme Court has placed significant limits on what the EPA can do—we plan on ensuring that those limits are upheld, and we expect that we will once again prevail in court against this out-of-control agency.”
“This tactic by the EPA is unacceptable, and this rule flies in the face of the rule of law. We are confident this new rule is not going to be upheld, and it just seems designed to scare more coal-fired power plants into retirement—the goal of the Biden administration.”
“Making matters worse, the administration packaged this rule with several other rules aimed at destroying traditional energy providers. We’re reviewing those rules as well, and we’ll be working with state and industry partners to implement the best strategy for fighting back against Biden’s anti-energy agenda.”
West Virginia First District Rep Carol Miller (R) released the following statement:
“The EPA’s Clean Power Plan 2.0 rules remind Americans that the Biden Administration is focused on demolishing the United States coal industry in the name of ‘green’ energy. These new mandates will cripple our electric grid, current coal-fired power plants, new natural gas-fired power plants, and overall U.S. energy production. This disastrous move will increase energy prices and cost of living across the United States. In June, I introduced the Protect Our Power Plants (POPP) Act with Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to stop the EPA from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing these rules and I continue to urge its passage in the House of Representatives and the Senate. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to hold the EPA accountable for this misguided rule-making and will be introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) in effort to overturn the EPA’s rules,” said Congresswoman Miller.Â
The West Virginia Coal Association said:
“Make no mistake, the rules announced by EPA today are specifically designed to shut down West Virginia’s nine (9) coal-fired power plants and many more across this nation. This is a continuation and escalation of the national Democratic Party’s decades-long War on Coal and threatens the livelihood of tens of thousands of miners and power plant workers across West Virginia.
Despite numerous recent announcements from regional grid operators, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, National Electric Reliability Commission and energy experts forecasting that the amount of planned electric generation retirements exceed the amount of potential new generation able to be brought online, the EPA recklessly continues to march America off a cliff.
What EPA is doing is economic suicide. West Virginians will lose jobs. Americans will continue to pay increasingly more expensive power bills. Our state and national electric systems will become even more unreliable as the grid weakens and base load power supplies are severely reduced. And just as West Virginia will likely import its future energy, America’s energy security will become more dependent on foreign countries and potentially foreign adversaries.
A diverse energy mix that is supported by coal-powered plants, not in place of them, is crucial to ensuring all Americans can afford to keep their homes heated and lit. Until we recognize the need for an energy policy reset, we can expect our energy situation to remain unstable and potentially poised to fail us when we need it most.”