CHARLESTON – West Virginia leaders were quick to criticize proposed new carbon dioxide emission limits for power plants operated with fossil fuels.
On May 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the proposed rules for coal- and gas-fired power plants. The agency says the aim is to meet climate goals and protect public health.
“This is about seizing the moment and understanding that we have an obligation to not only leave behind a healthier plant for generations that will come after us, but to leave behind a fairer and more just society,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said of the plan.
But West Virginia leaders, including Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, said it all is an attack on the Mountain State.
“Based upon what we currently know about this proposal, it 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,” Morrisey said. “That tactic is unacceptable, and this rule appears to utterly fly in the face of the rule of law.
“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 would once again prevail in court against this out-of-control agency.
“We urge everyone not to fall for this clear attempt to accomplish what the law doesn’t allow. We need the plants to stay open.”
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said she will work to overturn the rule if it is finalized.
“The Clean Power Plan 2.0 announced today is the Biden administration’s most blatant attempt yet to close down power plants and kill American energy jobs,” said Capito, who also is the top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee. “I plan to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to protect workers and families from the disastrous impacts of these latest job-killing regulations.”
The day before the EPA issued the draft rules, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) also criticized the agency, saying he would “oppose all EPA nominees until they halt their government overreach.”
“This Administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence, no matter the cost to energy security and reliability,” Manchin said. “Just last week before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, every FERC Commissioner agreed that we cannot eliminate coal today or in the near future if we want to have a reliable electric grid.
“I fear that this administration’s commitment to their extreme ideology overshadows their responsibility to ensure long-lasting energy and economic security and I will oppose all EPA nominees until they halt their government overreach.”
The draft rules would limit carbon dioxide from existing coal plants and new natural gas-powered plants and some existing gas plants. The rules would make coal plants capture 90 percent of their planet-warming emissions. They would allow gas plants to capture 90 percent of their emissions by 2035 or run mostly on hydrogen energy by 2038.
Chris Hamilton, president and CEO of the West Virginia Coal Association, didn't mince words.
"Make no mistake, the rules announced by EPA today are specifically designed to shut down West Virginia’s nine coal-fired power plants and many more across this nation," Hamilton said. "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 West Virginians.
"Ideology doesn’t manufacture megawatts. Coal does."
Hamlton said the EPA "recklessly continues to march America off a cliff ... despite numerous recent announcements from regional grid operators, the Federal Energy Regulatory 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."
"What EPA is doing is economic suicide. West Virginians will lose jobs. Americans will continue to pay increasingly more expensive power bills. Our nation’s electric system will become even more unreliable. And energy security in the United States 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.”