EPA Clean Power Plan Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Supreme Court Sides With W.Va. On Power Plant Emissions

The U.S. Supreme Court has limited the federal government’s ability to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants, in a case brought by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

The U.S. Supreme Court has limited the federal government’s ability to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants.

In a 6-3 decision Thursday, the final day of the court’s term, the court ruled in favor of West Virginia in a case against the Environmental Protection Agency.

The state’s attorney general, Patrick Morrisey, sought to constrain the EPA from issuing broad regulations of power plant emissions under the Clean Air Act.

In a statement, Morrisey said such authority rested with lawmakers, rather than the agency.

“We are pleased this case returned the power to decide one of the major environmental issues of the day to the right place to decide it: the U.S. Congress, comprised of those elected by the people to serve the people,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, also praised the decision.

“If Congress had intended to give EPA such sweeping authority to transform an entire sector of our economy, Congress would have done so explicitly,” she said in a statement.

The Biden administration was poised to issue new rules to decarbonize the electric power sector by 2035.

Still, the transition away from coal is well under way. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal accounts for 85 percent of the electric generating capacity scheduled to retire this year. Solar, wind and natural gas account for the majority of replacements.

In a statement, Michael Bloomberg, the former New York mayor and founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies, said the change in the electric power sector was driven by communities.

“Coal’s days are numbered, clean energy is the future, and we won’t let this backward-looking Supreme Court decision stand in our way,” he said.

Tomblin: Likely No State Carbon Plan Until After Court Cases

Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin doesn’t expect West Virginia to submit compliance plans for carbon emissions standards from coal-fired power plants while the federal regulation remains in court proceedings.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to halt enforcement of President Obama’s sweeping plan to address climate change until after legal challenges are resolved.

Tomblin spokeswoman Shayna Varner said Wednesday it’s hard to imagine court proceedings being complete by September’s submission date for state implementation plans.

Tuesday’s ruling was a victory for a coalition of 27 mostly Republican-led states and industry groups, including West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

Varner says Tomblin’s environmental agency will keep working on a feasibility study of complying with the regulation, as a bill passed last year requires.

Varner says Tomblin is pleased with the stay.

Miners Union Says West Virginia Should Submit Carbon Plan

The top national miners union official says West Virginia should request an extension to submit a plan to comply with federal carbon emission standards on coal-fired power plants.

In prepared remarks Tuesday at the Governor’s Energy Summit at Stonewall Resort, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said West Virginia shouldn’t refuse to submit a plan to comply with the push against global warming. He said the state should request an extension until September 2018.

Roberts said West Virginia should plan to build new power plants co-fired by coal and natural gas.

If a state doesn’t submit a plan, a federal plan will be automatically implemented.

Roberts said the extension will give time for lawsuits against the carbon standards to wind through courts. The union is involved in litigation.

UMWA President Rallies Union in Fight to Save Coal Jobs

United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts rallied members at a meeting on Wednesday, June 3, in Morgantown. Roberts says the union will fight the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to keep miners employed.

According to Worforce West Virginia, about 11,500 miners have lost their jobs since March of 2012. Almost 2,000 of those layoffs have come since January of this year.

Roberts addressed the current state of the coal mining industry in front of a packed room at the Morgantown Event Center. He painted a picture of miners caught between an industry trying to cut costs and a government that wants to move away from coal.

Patriot Coal Company filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than 3 years while Murray Energy announced plans to lay off hundreds of miners.

Roberts stressed that the decline of coal and loss of union mining jobs doesn’t just hurt miners and their families. He said miners contribute a billion dollars to the economy in the coalfields.

“You pull a billion dollars out of the coalfield communities and see what happens here. This is not just our problem, this is every elected official in America’s problem. This is everybody’s problem,” Roberts said.

Call to Action

He called on his members to support legislation sponsored by sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., that would allow states to opt out of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The plan’s goal is a 30-percent reduction in carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants by 2030.

Roberts also said miners should fight initiatives to shift from coal-fired electricity generation to gas-fired plants. He urged his union members to oppose county tax breaks for new gas-fired power plants in the counties where they live.

Miners React

After the speech, Monongalia County miner Dave Earl echoed Roberts’ sentiments.

“Like he said, there’s no jobs in gas. Once the wells are drilled and the pipelines are in, there’s no future but just a very few people there,” Earl said.

Roberts’ call to push back against the EPA and fight for lost coal jobs was well-received by his audience.

“That’s what us as a union have been waiting for. We’ve been waiting for Cecil’s backing and it sounds like we got it. It sounds like he’s ready to make a stand with us on this matter,” another Mon County miner, Daniel Strahin, said.

UMWA members stand in recognition during Cecil Roberts’ speech on Wednesday, June 3, at the Morgantown Event Center.

Tough Battle Ahead

It will be a tough battle, though. Among other tasks, Roberts must navigate Patriot’s second bankruptcy. The company announced Wednesday that it wants to sell the majority of its assets to Blackhawk Mining, LLC.

That brings up the specter of a battle that landed Roberts and others in jail as they protested the terms of Patriot’s 2013 bankruptcy deal. The UMWA fought to keep retired miners’ pensions and health care benefits, among other things.

Meanwhile, a recent report indicates that coal production in West Virginia is expected to drop 39 percent compared with the industry’s last high point in 2008.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey Says Clean Power Plan is Illegal

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey testified in front of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee Tuesday saying the EPA’s Clean Power Plan is illegal.

At a hearing entitled, the “Legal Implications of the Clean Power Plan” held in Washington, DC, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, along with four others; spoke before U.S. Senators on the legality of the EPA’s clean power proposal. The EPA’s plan is due to be finalized this summer and would require the nation to reduce its carbon emission rate by 30% by 2030. Senator Shelley Moore Capito was the chairwoman of the subcommittee.

Morrisey expressed concern for the economies of West Virginia and other energy states, asking for the plan to be re-evaluated.

“This proposed rule is actually causing real, tangible harm in the states, and also it’s affecting power plant operations currently,” Morrisey said, “If you go and look at our litigation, we have at least eight declarations from very experienced environmental regulators who talk about the cost of trying to comply with this rule. The other point that I would raise, is that the time frames associated with this proposal are hyper-aggressive.”

Morrisey claims the proposed regulations are illegal because they seek to require states to regulate coal-fired power plants when the EPA already regulates those same plants under the hazardous air pollutant program. Morrisey says amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990 prohibited double regulation.