New EPA regs stand to create grid reliability crisis, warn PA stakeholders

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) newly announced suite of final rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants isn’t going over well in Pennsylvania. 

“More climate hysteria as Biden’s EPA rolls out new power plant rules. A direct attack on our electric grid,” Republican State Sen. Gene Yaw, who represents District 23, tweeted last night on X, formerly Twitter. “PA workers, their families and energy communities will be the primary victims. We are on a race to the bottom folks.”

Under one of the EPA’s rules issued on Thursday, coal-fired power plants will be forced to capture 90 percent of their smokestack emissions or shut down. The rule is among four measures targeting coal and natural gas plants that the EPA says will provide regulatory certainty to the power industry and entice companies to make investments to transition “to a clean energy economy.” 

The other EPA regulations include requirements to reduce toxic wastewater pollutants from coal-fired plants, which also must safely manage coal ash in unlined storage ponds.

This package of regulations is a “haphazard and dangerous threat” to the grid’s electricity supply, national security, and economy, according to the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance (PCA). 

“In fact, the plan will destroy the ability to produce grid-saving baseload power across the country at a time when the same administration has pushed the electrification of our economy, mandating electric vehicles and appliances,” said PCA Executive Director Rachel Gleason in a statement released April 25. 

Experts from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, regional grid managers, and utilities have warned the grid is facing an impending crisis, which Gleason said could culminate in Pennsylvania as early as 2026.

“Misguided policies like this will ultimately doom any chances of reliable electricity and a thriving economy,” she added.

Specifically, the EPA regulation requires coal plants in the United States to reduce 90 percent of their greenhouse gas pollution by 2039, one year earlier than the agency initially proposed.

“Not only are these regulations extremely heavy-handed, but the compressed timeline they are now operating under is entirely unrealistic,” wrote Daniel Turner, executive director and founder of Power The Future, a national nonprofit representing energy workers. 

“The Biden administration has once again enacted absurd regulations that are set to try and shutter one of the last pillars of reliable energy: coal,” Turner wrote in an April 25 blog, adding that not only will the EPA’s rules negatively impact 42,000 American coal workers, but the entire nation will suffer from a decrease in the supply of reliable energy. 

“You don’t have to hold a PhD in economics to know that a reduction in the supply of coal will cause energy prices to skyrocket,” he added. 

Pennsylvania State Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican representing District 9 and co-chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus, agreed, calling the regulations the Biden administration’s latest assault on American energy. 

“Despite the warnings of grid transmission operators, utilities, grid reliability experts, and regulators that the U.S. is facing a grid reliability crisis compounded by surging power demand, the EPA has ignored those warnings and pushed ahead with its destructive agenda to essentially end coal-powered electricity in the United States,” said Rep. Meuser. 

The EPA’s refusal to heed these warnings, Meuser added, “is alarming and will likely have negative consequences for millions of Americans.”

The congressman also said that the rules will accelerate coal plant retirements when grid reliability and power supply affordability demand just the opposite. 

“Consumers and businesses across the country need to grasp the realistic implications of such an ill-advised policy,” pointed out PCA’s Gleason. “Pennsylvania coal must remain as one of the driving forces to power our economy and sustain the quality of lives of our residents.”

The PCA urged Pennsylvania’s Congressional Delegation and PA State Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, to stand up for workers, families and communities, and protect the state from “these irrational and discriminatory policies.”

Turner also called for swift action.

“It’s incumbent on state attorney generals and other elected officials to use every resource available, including the courts, to stop these rules dead in their tracks before they unleash untold destruction on our country,” said Turner.

The EPA’s plan will likely be challenged by industry groups and Republican-leaning states, which have repeatedly accused the Biden administration of overreach on environmental regulations.