Here are several reactions from Pennsylvania groups to Tuesday’s proposed EPA “Affordable Clean Energy Rule”--
PA Coal Alliance Executive Director Rachel Gleason issued the following statement on the proposed Affordable Clean Energy rule--
“The Pennsylvania Coal Alliance (PCA) applauds the EPA for today’s release of the much anticipated Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, a return to EPA’s statutorily approved authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
“The ACE rule replaces the unprecedented and illegal attempt to broadly regulate electric generation found in the last Administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The PCA has maintained that the CPP was flawed in its attempt to regulate power plants outside the walls of the facilities themselves, and the CAA was only intended to allow EPA to promulgate performance standards that are based on measures that can be implemented within a facility.
“The CAA plainly states that the EPA cannot choose who gets to contribute to the power grid, yet the CPP’s one-size-fits-all mandate did just that in picking winners and losers and was particularly discriminatory against Pennsylvania as one of the top producers of affordable baseload generation.
“The ACE rule will give Pennsylvania’s policy makers latitude in responsibly determining how to meet standards of performance within EPA’s guidelines, and will encourage individual power plants to make facility upgrades and efficiency improvements without initiating New Source Review.
“As a net exporter of energy, the ACE rule will protect jobs and encourage economic growth in Pennsylvania while providing reliable and resilient coal-fired power that is affordable for businesses and consumers, and protects ratepayers from significant electricity price increases.”
PennFuture Tuesday urged EPA to reverse course on its purported replacement for the Clean Power Plan announced by the Trump administration, which would safeguard and prioritize the polluting coal industry over climate and public health.
EPA calls this new proposal the “Affordable Clean Energy” rule, but it’s neither clean nor affordable. Its own analysis says this new plan may increase emissions of harmful air pollutants and carbon pollution from dirty coal plants.
Worse yet, PennFuture said, the Trump administration is preparing a separate plan to further subsidize the unprofitable coal plants at the expense of citizens across the country. Even if Pennsylvania worked to meet its original Clean Power Plan goals in spite of this rollback, citizens will still breathe excess pollution from upwind states like Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana.
“The EPA’s own report shows rolling back the Clean Power Plan could result in 1,400 additional deaths because of air pollution,” said Rob Altenburg, Director of PennFuture’s Energy Center. “Trump’s plan also means more Pennsylvania children suffering from asthma will miss school, and more parents will miss work to care for them.”
PennFuture urges Congress to reverse this attack on environmental protections and pursue innovative, swift climate solutions, such as Congressman Carlos Curbelo’s market-driving approach to reduce emissions, rather than allowing companies to pollute even more, putting profits over people.
“This may be the Trump administration’s most egregious attack on our environmental protections to date. In addition, the administration is proposing to repeal motor vehicle emissions standards and take away the ability of states like Pennsylvania to opt-in to higher standards. It has released this plan to weaken standards for the dirtiest power plants. And, it is expected to release new plans to subsidize unprofitable coal plants, forcing consumers to pay more for dirty power that harms them,” Altenburg said. “We need to do more to combat climate change, not less, but the Trump administration is attempting to scrap emissions standards for the biggest carbon polluters. Not only will this plan be worse for the air we all breathe, it will actually cost our citizens more than the existing Clean Power Plan. It’s a bad deal for all of us.”
PennFuture said the proposed plan is vastly inferior to the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan, which, following clear direction from the U.S. Supreme Court, was the first-ever rule requiring CO2 reductions from power plants.
The Clean Power Plan served as the foundation of America’s commitment to the world that our nation is serious about climate action. The proposed alternative plan will, at best, slightly reduce carbon emissions, but may end up actually increasing emissions, at a time when we need aggressive action.
EPA claims the “Affordable Clean Energy” rule will produce CO2 emissions reductions, but their estimates are far below the benefits of the Clean Power Plan. This means more illness and premature death from air pollution and climate change.
PennFuture added results would be worse for wildlife as well, as the plan would do little to stem climate impacts, and could actually contribute to the climate crisis.
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