On Its First Anniversary, the Plan Hurts Rather Than Helps Households, Workers and Industries
National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued the following statement on the first anniversary of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan:
“Today the president is meeting with billionaires and special interest elites to promote policies that will make our nation’s electricity supply more expensive and less reliable. Instead, the president should listen to the American people talk about their sharply divergent priorities. Two recent polls reveal the chasm that separates their interests from those of his allies.
“A recent Harris Poll shows that three out of four Americans are concerned that EPA regulations will boost their electricity costs. A Magellan Poll shows voters from Colorado to Michigan believe the president should focus his time and attention on creating jobs and growing the economy rather than creating new regulations that produce higher costs with few benefits.
“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has warned that our electricity grid is ‘close to the edge’ of breaking thanks in large part to earlier EPA rules that forced the closure of power plants supplying low cost and reliable electricity. An analysis commissioned by NMA earlier this year confirms the precarious state of the electric grid. Electricity prices would have been 35-55 percent higher this winter if power plants scheduled to close over the next two years had not been available to generate power.
“Far from celebrating this anniversary, ordinary Americans today have more to worry about as the nation’s electricity supply is pushed closer to the edge.”
For additional facts and references, please see the accompanying fact sheet.