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Aug 02, 2023

Regulations: EPA trying to wear down industry

Aug 2, 2023 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrats simply can’t help themselves, it seems. Once again this spring, they proposed power plant regulations that would force the closure of some

Aug 2, 2023

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency bureaucrats simply can’t help themselves, it seems. Once again this spring, they proposed power plant regulations that would force the closure of some coal and gas-fired power plants, despite the U.S. Supreme Court having already told the agency it can’t do that.

“In direct conflict with West Virginia v. EPA, this proposal requires generation shifting from fossil-fuel power to other types of energy. While the Agency falsely claims this does not run afoul of the Supreme Court’s decision, it is undeniable the proposal would require generation shifting that the Court has definitively found Congress has never granted EPA the authority to require under the Clean Air Act,” wrote a group of senators led by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who is ranking member of the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee.

Clean Power Plan 2.0, proposed in May, attempts another end-around. But, Capito and 38 other senators point out, “As Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation Joe Goffman has stated, nothing since the ruling in West Virginia v. EPA has conferred upon the EPA any new authority to require generation shifting as the best system of emission reduction, as EPA seeks to do under this proposal.”

Among the problems are the EPA’s assumption that certain emissions control technologies will exist and not be prohibitively expensive in a timely manner.

“By requiring the best system of emission reduction for coal plants to install and operate CCS technology at a 90% carbon dioxide capture rate by 2030, the EPA is effectively requiring these plants to shut down,” the senators’ Tuesday letter reads.

But the EPA knows that. It’s the agency’s goal, it seems. Time and again, the EPA fails to understand we’ve got to do right both by the planet AND by the people living on it; and we’ve got to accomplish those goals by following the rules. Of course, the EPA has for years operated as though it believes the rules do not apply to it.

While Capito and the rest of the letter’s cosigners are to be commended for their effort, it appears the EPA will be reluctant to withdraw Clean Power Plan 2.0. It is a technique used by toddlers hoping to wear down their parents until “no” becomes “yes.” Surely, though, the U.S. Supreme Court will stand firm, and again remind the EPA who is boss.

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