EPA seeks to reverse Clean Power rule
Southern Co. representatives say they believe rules are best set at the state level.
Last month U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking revealing plans to repeal the so- called “Clean Power Plan.” The Obama administrative initiative created state- by- state targets for carbon emissions reductions, cutting national electricity sector emissions by an estimated 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
The “new” EPA under the Trump administration argues the plans overstep the agency’s statutory authority. In a news release, Pruitt said evidence of that came when the Supreme Court issued a stay of the rule in February 2016.
Schuyler Baehman, a spokesman for Southern Co., parent company of Georgia Power, said Southern Co. supports alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens on the American people.
“National energy policy should be set by Congress and the states, which have the ability to balance the responsibility to provide customers clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy,” Baehman said in response to a question about how the proposed changes might impact operations at Georgia Power’s Plant Hammond in Coosa and Plant Bowen in Euharlee.
“We remain engaged with our state environmental agencies, public service commission and other stakeholders to ensure that we continue acting in the best interests of customers,” Baehman continued.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has expressed serious concern that a lot of scientific data regarding carbon emissions has been deleted from the EPA website. “The legal basis for the requirement that EPA regulate greenhouse gas emissions, known as the endangerment finding, is another crucial resource in understanding the debate over the rule,” reads a blog on the UCS website written by Toly Rinberg and Andrew Bergman. They said the EPA’s endangerment finding web page, too, was lost in the removals.
“Southern Co. will continue its leadership role in finding environmental solutions that make technological and economic sense by developing and deploying technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while ensuring energy remains reliable and affordable,” Baehman said.
The Notice of Proposed Rule Making for repeal of Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Unit legislation was published in the Federal Register on Oct. 16 and is out for a 60-day comment period. Comments can be sent electronically to www. regulations. gov, referencing the docket number EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355.