Others join Calpine in motion backing Clean Power Plan
Austin Energy, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., and others joined Calpine Corp. in filing a joint court motion Thursday to intervene in support of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which is being challenged by Texas and other states.
The coalition of companies and municipalities joining the case in support of the Environmental Protection Agency stand to benefit financially by the new rule because they are much less reliant on coalfired power plants, which are most affected by the proposal to reduce emissions on existing power plants.
Houston-based Calpine, Austin Energy, PG&E, Seattle City Light and London-based National Grid, which has a sizable U.S. presence, all filed the court motion together.
West Virginia and Texas are leading the group of 24 that sued the EPA on Oct. 23. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton contends the proposal is an illegal federal overreach to control the nation’s power grid that will increase electricity costs for consumers.
The companies and cities of Austin and Seattle said in the court filing they offer a “useful counterbalance” against the states’ claims of the Clean Power Plan’s “unreasonableness.”
Natural gas
Calpine and the others argued the Clean Power Plan will only hasten the existing market trends toward natural gas and renewable power reliance in order to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
“As a result of their extensive experience and investments in developing and procuring generation from low-emitting sources, the power companies are well positioned to comply with and benefit from the Clean Power Plan and support its objectives of reducing CO2 emissions from the power sector,” the court filing states.
Calpine, for instance, has the nation’s largest fleet of natural gas-fired power plants, which still emit carbon, but less than coal plants.
“Calpine anticipates that its long-term investments in clean generation technology will be rewards through the implementation of the CPP,” the filing adds. “These rewards would be severely diminished or in some instances lost entirely if the CPP is invalidated.”
Ready for Plan B?
In an interview Wednesday, Calpine CEO Thad Hill said the companies want to be a part of the conversation with the states as they consider their individual Clean Power Plans if the lawsuit fails.
“The state is going to do what the state feels they need to do, and we just want to make sure there’s a Plan B conversation happening,” Hill said.