According to the Washington Post, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed greenhouse gas regulation released today will severely limit the amount of carbon dioxide that can be released from newly constructed power plants to no more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. Since on average coal plants emit amount 1,768 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt, the new rule will essentially ban construction of new coal-fired power plants.
This means the EPA’s new greenhouse gas rule will essentially end the use of coal as a power source in our country.
The proposed regulation will ban future construction of new coal-fired power plants and force utilities to use other power sources such as natural gas, wind and solar power. Through the regulatory boot of the EPA, President Obama is bankrupting the coal industry.
Other considerations:
- Obama is delivering on his promise to make electricity prices “skyrocket” and to bankrupt utilities that choose to use coal as a power source;
- American coal will be exported to China putting our country at a competitive disadvantage for cheap power;
- The new rule removes coal as a competitor for electricity making way for Obama’s renewable alternatives wind and solar;
- The new rule bails out Obama’s crony capitalist allies such as GE CEO Jeff Immelt who needs the government to rescue the floundering renewable energy business (solar and wind power).
The new EPA proposal on greenhouse gas emissions follows the Utility MACT and Cross-State Air rules issued last year by the agency. The latter two regulations are forcing utilities to close over fifty coal-fired power plants and are raising concerns about the future reliability of the country’s power grid. Coal currently provides about 40 percent of the nation’s electricity.
EPA’s new proposed rule for coal-fired utilities is a death sentence for the domestic use of coal.
The attached list from the National Mining Association documents the number of coal plants that will be closing due to the EPA’s Utility MACT rule and the Cross State Air rule.
I have dedicated an entire chapter on energy in my new book, “Blacklash: How Obama and the Left are Driving Americans to the Government Plantation.”
