EPA Power Plant Emissions Rule Threatens Affordable Energy

In last summer’s West Virginia v. EPA decision, the Supreme Court held that the EPA’s claims of vast new powers to reorganize America’s electricity sector raised a “major question,” requiring Congress to have spoken with much greater clarity than it had in an obscure provision of the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s proposed power-plant rule relies on the same provision, raising the same problem — and others besides.

Just as Obama’s Clean Power Plan did for coal plants, the EPA’s new rule mandates emission-reduction goals that will be virtually impossible for fossil-fuel power plants to attain. This time, the main targets are the natural-gas plants responsible for a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions from America’s power sector since 2010. Many will shutter, and the remainder will pass the rule’s exorbitant compliance costs onto consumers.

About the Author

Mario Loyola

Mario Loyola is a professor of environment at Florida International University and a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

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In last summer’s West Virginia v. EPA decision, the Supreme Court held that the EPA’s claims of vast new powers to reorganize America’s electricity sector raised a “major question,” requiring Congress to have spoken with much greater clarity than it had in an obscure provision of the Clean Air Act. The EPA’s proposed power-plant rule relies on the same provision, raising the same problem — and others besides.

Just as Obama’s Clean Power Plan did for coal plants, the EPA’s new rule mandates emission-reduction goals that will be virtually impossible for fossil-fuel power plants to attain. This time, the main targets are the natural-gas plants responsible for a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions from America’s power sector since 2010. Many will shutter, and the remainder will pass the rule’s exorbitant compliance costs onto consumers.