Trump Keeps Promise: His EPA Clears Way to Bring Coal Power Plants Back & Build Even More
President Donald Trump just placed a lump of coal in the Christmas stocking of every radical environmentalist.
And it looks like there will be plenty of coal to put in those stockings for years to come.
Trump made campaign promises to revitalize the coal industry. On Thursday, his administration took another step toward making good on those promises and helping the industry recover from the era of President Barack Obama’s anti-coal policies.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s acting administrator, Andrew Wheeler, announced Thursday that the agency is proposing to loosen an Obama-era rule that would have required cutting-edge carbon capture techniques for new coal plants. Wheeler said the curbs on coal emissions were “excessive burdens” on the industry.
All the proposal requires is approval from the Trump administration.
“Consistent with President Trump’s executive order promoting energy independence, EPA’s proposal would rescind excessive burdens on America’s energy providers and level the playing field so that new energy technologies can be a part of America’s future,” Wheeler said.
“By replacing onerous regulations with high, yet achievable, standards, we can continue America’s historic energy production, keep energy prices affordable, and encourage new investments in cutting-edge technology that can then be exported around the world,” he added.
Coal deserves a level playing field, not runaway regulation that will do little to actually help the environment. I applaud @POTUS and @EPA to end the War on Coal and bring relief to hardworking Kentucky families.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) December 6, 2018
According to The Daily Caller, the move would help the coal industry because “dropping the CCS mandate could mean raising carbon dioxide emissions limits for new power plants to a threshold that allows more highly efficient plants to be built.”
The Obama-era mandate prohibited new coal plants from emitting more than 1,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. The Trump administration wants to raise the limit to 1,900 pounds.
The Obama-era mandate made it all but impossible to build new coal plants, industry advocates claimed.
“Today’s actions reflect our approach of defining new, clean coal standards by data and the latest technological information, not wishful thinking,” said Bill Wehrum, the EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation.
The Trump administration believes this move can mean a reduction in energy prices, a reduction in government waste, and more jobs for Americans. It can also be a welcome relief for “coal country,” which has been devastated in recent years with over-regulation and coal mines shutting down.
“This says we’re expecting more coal-fired power plants in the future, and we’re going to make it easier to get there,” Harvard University environmental law professor Richard J. Lazarus told The New York Times.
This also means one more promise kept by Trump.
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