WASHINGTON, D.C. – National Mining Association (NMA) president and CEO Rich Nolan issued the following statement on the release of the North American Electric Reliability Corp.’s (NERC) 2023 Long-term Reliability Assessment.
“NERC’s latest assessment shows that the nation’s grid reliability has never been under more stress. We’re in a crisis that is deepening by the month as an irresponsible and dangerous regulatory agenda collides with surging electricity demand and increasingly acute resource adequacy challenges. Even worse, the alarming erosion of the nation’s grid reliability is a policy failure born from an inflexible partisan agenda. This report’s warnings show that reliable, affordable energy shouldn’t be a political issue; people of all parties want energy policy that keeps the lights on and their homes warm during the winter.
“The loss of the nation’s coal generating capacity – and the Biden administration’s commitment to blindly accelerate plant closures – is leaving grids across the country short of the fuel-secure, dispatchable generation they so desperately need.
“Surging power demand, the rapid loss of dispatchable generating capacity, and the towering hurdles to connecting reliable alternatives and their enabling infrastructure are the on-the-ground reality that should shape our energy policy. We need energy policy that prioritizes reliability and values the existing resources that underpin it, instead of racing to discard them. Paying more and more for a less and less reliable supply of electricity is the energy future no American deserves.”
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