Power rewrite a boon to coal
Trump plan breathes new life into old plants
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is poised Tuesday to unveil a sweeping rewrite of emissions rules for power plants that would be a boon to the coal industry, laying the groundwork for a revival of the most polluting facilities and abandoning Obamaera mandates for re-orienting the electricity sector toward clean energy.
The draft replacement for the federal Clean Power Plan, according to several people who have been briefed on it, reflects a dramatic about-face on national climate action. It is Trump’s second major move in less than a month reflecting a retreat in the fight against global warming, following the administration’s plan to freeze fueleconomy standards for cars and trucks.
The new power plan would relieve the electricity industry — the second largest producer of potent greenhouse gases nationwide — from goals for reducing its carbon foot print. Heavily polluting coal plants that would have been forced into retirement under the Obama-era guidelines get a new lease on life under the Trump blueprint.
In some cases, states may be permitted to ignore federal guidelines for certain plants altogether and pursue their own strategy. Climate-conscious states like California are already mobilizing to fight, arguing the administration’s approach violates the Clean Air Act.
Administration talking points leaked to the media say the replacement of the Clean Power Plan is a signal “to the nation that the war on coal is over and a new era of energy dominance is underway.” A spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees emission regulations, declined to comment on the draft plan.
The administration already made clear last year that it planned to scrap the ambitious Obama-era goals, which were crucial to meeting the commitments Obama made to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of the Paris accord on global warming. While Trump withdrew the U.S. from that agreement, the federal government remains legally obligated to confront climate change under the Clean Air Act.
Emissions in the power sector would still decline under the new plan, largely because dropping prices for natural gas and, to a lesser extent solar and wind, are pushing utilities away from coal. But the pace of the transition could slow substantially if the Trump plan is enacted, undermining the race by California and other states to carry the nation toward meeting the Paris obligations. In some cases, the new plan encourages the continued operation of old coal plants that might otherwise retire without any government intervention.
“They are following the industry’s playbook, step by step,” said Gina McCarthy, who led the EPA under Obama. “This is all about coal at all costs.”
The proposal is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to use its regulatory powers to prop up a coal industry that is struggling for survival. It comes as the Energy Department is mulling a directive to power grid operators to add more coal energy into their mix, arguing the continued operation of the plants is a matter of national defense. Independent energy analysts find the argument dubious, warning such a mandate would drive up energy costs and do nothing to improve national security.
The Clean Power Plan replacement comes after 27 states challenged the original Obama administration rule, arguing that it overstepped the federal government’s authority to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act. The act requires the EPA to set targets for greenhouse gas reduction.
The Obama administration applied the rule in the context of broader electricity networks, pushing regulations that prod states to more swiftly replace coal plants with cleaner burning energy. The states opposed went to court, arguing the federal government’s role is merely to ensure coal plants are equipped with limited emissions-control technology. In early 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked enforcement of the Obama-era plan in a 5-4 ruling that gave states opposed to it an opportunity to make their case.
Some of those states, though, have already signaled that they intend to do as little as the courts will allow. Among the states that fought the Obama rule most aggressively was Oklahoma, where the person spearheading the court effort was then-state Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who went on to lead the EPA for Trump until he resigned under the cloud of multiple federal ethics investigations earlier this year.
The Supreme Court order staying implementation of the Obama plan has remained in place at the request of the Trump administration, to provide time to rewrite the rules.
The impacts of the new proposal extend beyond global warming. It allows plants to emit considerably more smog and soot-forming pollutants. The Clean Power Plan would have curbed those pollutants enough to stave off thousands of deaths, and tens of thousands of asthma attacks and missed school and work days, according to EPA estimates.
“It’s worrisome,” said Conrad Schneider, advocacy director at the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental advocacy group. “You would see an increase in the emissions that ultimately become deadly particulate matter.”
The plan Trump is poised to unveil also would unravel rules requiring power plants to install technologies to cut down on their greenhouse gas and smog-forming emissions when they are upgraded or expanded.
The proposal could prove tough to defend in court. And even if the Trump administration prevails, industry analysts are skeptical its plan will reverse the fortunes of the coal industry.
“The coal fleet and coal generation are going down no matter what you do,” said John Larsen, a director at Rhodium Group, which tracks progress on climate action. “These coal plants are getting old. It costs a lot to keep them running, and they are not competitive in the market.”