PSC Chair: EPA’s Power Plant Proposal Can’t Be Done, Costs Too Much

In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule requiring power plants to curb their carbon dioxide emissions by 90 percent or more.

White-haired woman wearing black-rimmed glasses and a pink blazer speaks into a microphone while seated at table.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is pushing back on proposed federal rules for power plants that burn coal and natural gas.

In June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new rule requiring power plants to curb their carbon dioxide emissions by 90 percent or more.

They could achieve this with carbon capture and storage or by fueling with clean hydrogen.

Neither of those things can be done right now, and they are prohibitively expensive, PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane wrote in her comments to the EPA.

Lane also wrote that the proposed rules exceed EPA’s authority and that the closure of large numbers of coal and natural gas-fueled power plants would threaten grid reliability.

Public comment on the new power plant rules ended Tuesday. Court challenges are likely should the EPA move forward with its latest plan.

Author: Curtis Tate

Curtis is our Energy & Environment Reporter, based in Charleston. He has spent more than 17 years as a reporter and copy editor for Gannett, Dow Jones and McClatchy. He has written extensively about travel, transportation and Congress for USA TODAY, The Bergen Record, The Lexington Herald-Leader, The Wichita Eagle, The Belleville News-Democrat and The Sacramento Bee. You can reach him at ctate@wvpublic.org.

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