Federal Administration Overreach Will Eliminate Jobs, Raise
Electricity Prices in Virginia
By Senator John Watkins
September 21, 2014
With its recent proposal to severely limit carbon emissions from coal-fired
power plants, the federal administration is attempting to radically transform
our nation’s energy economy. But contrary to the President’s utopian
rhetoric, this radical transformation will have little impact on global climate
change. Instead, this crusade against fossil fuels will only result in economic
damage, especially for hardworking families in Virginia.
A few things are clear. The administration’s new restrictions on coal plant
emissions will result in higher electricity prices for all Virginians, and they
will impede economic growth across every region of our state – from the
coalfields of Southwest Virginia to the ports of Hampton Roads.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal mandates that
states reduce carbon emissions from existing power plant by 30 percent by
2020. But under the EPA’s arbitrary and overly complex formula for
determining emissions reductions for each state, Virginia faces an even
higher bar than most – a 38 percent decrease.
While this mandate may be realistic for states that generate a much larger
share of their electricity from coal than we do, this will be virtually
impossible for Virginia to achieve, and it will come with a huge economic
cost. That’s because in recent decades Virginia has wisely invested in a
balanced energy portfolio that is pretty much evenly split between coal,
nuclear and natural gas. If Virginia generated 80 percent of our electricity
from coal, as states like Ohio and Kentucky do, it would be a lot easier for
our state to reach the EPA’s targets. But Virginia only generates 30 percent
of our electricity from coal, which will make our task infinitely more
difficult.
Instead of rewarding Virginia for our balanced approach to electricity
generation – which includes low-carbon natural gas and zero-carbon nuclear
– we are being punished by an arbitrary and out-of-control federal
bureaucracy.
The EPA’s new rules will force the closure of many of the state’s coal-fired
power plants, which provide affordable electricity to more than 1 million
households and 58,000 businesses across Virginia.
These closures will threaten many of the 45,000 coal-supported jobs in
Virginia, as well as thousands of manufacturing jobs that depend on the
affordable, reliable electricity supply that coal provides. According to the
EPA’s own estimates, Appalachian coal production is expected to plummet
from 246 million pounds per year to just 91 million pounds in 2020. And
that kind of dramatic shift in coal production will not just affect Southwest
Virginia coal miners; it will also hurt our railroads, ports and shipping
companies that depend on a robust coal mining industry.
Consumers will feel the pain, too. Prices on manufactured goods ranging
from refrigerators to bread will climb, as will monthly electricity bills
throughout the state. This will be especially painful for middle and lowerincome families, which spend two to three times more of their disposable
income on electricity than upper income families. So much for the
administration’s professed commitment to reducing inequality.
The EPA denies that it is trying to eliminate coal-generated power and
claims that coal-fired plants can continue to be a vibrant energy source in the
United States with the adoption of next-generation technology called carbon
capture and storage (CCS). However, this technology is years away from
being commercially viable, and as regulation increasingly removes more
coal energy from the grid, incentives to further invest in CSS development
will disappear.
The EPA’s carbon regulation is a self-inflicted economic wound made all
the more senseless by having little to no impact on global climate change.
That’s because the United States accounts for just 4 percent of global
greenhouse gas emissions. China emits more carbon emissions in one month
than the EPA’s proposal would reduce in one year. Put differently, these
regulations will result in a less than 1 percent reduction in global greenhouse
gas emissions, but at an annual cost of $8.8 billion to the U.S. economy.
Sounds like all pain and no gain, doesn’t it?
Instead of working with states and industry to develop a balanced, pragmatic
approach to reduce emissions and promote energy diversity, the President
has empowered overzealous bureaucrats in Washington to enforce arbitrary
rules that imperil the livelihood of ordinary Virginians.
While reducing carbon emission is a laudable goal, the President’s approach
is deeply flawed. It disregards the lives and economic realities of ordinary
Americans and treats the heavy burden they will shoulder as little more than
collateral damage.
These regulations are a detriment to the entire Virginia economy. I urge
Governor McAuliffe and his administration to stand against these outrageous
EPA regulations and ask for a more balanced approach from the federal
administration.
Senator John Watkins represents the 10th District in the Virginia State
Senate.