Tag Archives for costs
ACC Statement on Impending Withdrawal of EPA’s Power Plan
WASHINGTON, DC, October 9, 2017– The American Coal Council welcomes the announcement by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt that he plans to sign a proposed rule on Tuesday “to withdraw the so-called Clean Power Plan” previously issued under the Obama administration. Pruitt made the announcement today while visiting coal country in Hazard, Kentucky. He also once again took the opportunity to declare an end to the war on coal.
Without Clean Power Plan, coal dominates US power generation until 2032
By JUDY HISLOP
WASHINGTON, DC (February 14, 2017) – The mix of fuels used to generate electricity in the United States has changed in response to differences in the expected cost of fuels and electricity-generating technology costs and their deployment, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
These factors, together with policies affecting emissions from power generation, will determine the generation fuel mix of the future.
Multiple cases in EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook 2017 (AEO2017) show how projected electricity generation is affected by fuel prices, especially natural gas prices, and the Clean Power Plan, a final Environmental Protection Agency rule issued in 2015 whose enforcement was stayed by the US Supreme Court in Feb. 2016 pending the resolution of legal challenges.
ACC Issues Statement on Case-Western Study Findings: Study’s Findings Don’t Reflect the Regulatory Reality
WASHINGTON, DC (October 20, 2016)– A recent analysis by the Great Lakes Energy Institute (GLEI), of Case Western Reserve University, concludes the decline of the nation’s coal industry over the past eight years has been due to market forces and technology rather than the regulatory policies of the Obama Administration. “EPA rules have little to do with coal’s decline”, the analysis says. “Shale-gas competition has decimated coal.”
A renewable fantasy
This July 6th WSJ editorial on the fantasy of relying on renewable energy is a must read. Here’s a few good quotes from the article to get you started.
Recently Bill Gates explained in an interview with the Financial Times why current renewables are dead-end technologies. They are unreliable. Battery storage is inadequate. Wind and solar output depends on the weather. The cost of decarbonization using today’s technology is “beyond astronomical,” Mr. Gates concluded. …
Administration releasing plans for 3,415 additional regulations
This Daily Caller article describes how the Obama administration has picked the last few hours remaining before the Thanksgiving holiday to release the updated federal Unified Agenda. The DC article describes the document as,
the Obama administration’s regulatory road map (that) lays out thousands of regulations being finalized in the coming months.
The article describes how some 3,415 new regulations are listed, including 189 rules that will cost the U.S. economy more than $100 million.
Sen Mike Lee’s picture of the 2013 Federal Register. Almost 80,000 pages of new regulations passed in 2013.
“I’m scared to death for our country”
Roberty Murray, Chairman and CEO of Murray Energy took part in a eye-opening interview on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox Business.
He didn’t hold back for a second, saying that the impending EPA regulations were a “total and dangerous takeover” of the nation’s electricity system. He charged that the current administration’s actions were “illegal” and “unachievable.” He further argued that EPA regulations were “destroying” low cost electricity, American markets and our nation’s competitive position. He stated clearly that he was “scared to death for our country.”
Feeling overregulated?
If you wonder why the coal industry–and our entire economy–is lagging right now, one of the chief reasons is the cost for business to comply with federal regulations.
This post by the US Chamber of Commerce is an eye opener. Working in the coal industry gives you a good idea of just how onerous regulation can be, but the coal industry’s troubles are just the tip of the iceberg.
Feel overregulated? You should be:
- In 2013, compliance and economic impact of federal regulations added up to $1.863 trillion.
- Since 1993, a new final regulation has been issues by the federal government every nine days on average.
Leaked Sierra Club docs show $150 million to spend on attacking coal
Leaked Sierra Club documents reveal the “green” group’s plans for their massive multi-million dollar “Beyond Coal” campaign. The confidential document shows that the group planned to spend $150 million dollars just attacking coal jobs and forcing energy prices higher.
“…we will run a strategic national campaign that pushes and supports EPA to issue a series of new pollution-cutting rules relating to each step in the coal lifecycle, including coal mining, coal burning, and disposal of coal ash.”
EPA regs will harm U.S. manufacturing
Here’s a link to a new Heritage Foundation report on the impacts anti-coal EPA regs will have on American manufacturing capacity.
The Cost of EPA Regulations: Source Heritage Foundation
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) forthcoming climate change regulations for new and existing electricity generating units have been appropriately labeled the “war on coal,” because the proposed limits for carbon dioxide emissions would essentially prohibit the construction of new coal-fired power plants and force existing ones into early retirement.
Connecticut raising energy prices
Connecticut only used coal for 7.9% of its energy in 2009. Not surprisingly, it has the highest electricity rates in the continental U.S., at almost 16 cents per KWh. That is almost 60% higher than the national average (of 10 cents per KWh).
Unfortunately for Connecticut’s energy users, Governor Malloy’s new budget is planning to make a $2.50/MW energy tax – on all generation sources other than wind and solar – permanent, meaning CT electricity users are going to see even higher rates.
This is why we keep saying we need to focus on using our domestic coal and fossil energy resources to keep electricity rates as low as possible.