National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued the following statement on the unveiling of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed New Source Performance Standard for regulating greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-based power plants that generate 40 percent of the nation’s electricity:
These rules are another step by the administration to take us to a more expensive and less secure energy future. They embody unrealistic measures that move America’s electric grid away from the low cost and reliable power our economy needs to grow.
These regulations, if finalized, would be a loss for American consumers, manufacturers and businesses nationwide, but especially for those in states that rely on low cost electricity from coal. Also on the losing end are middle class and lower-income Americans and retirees on fixed incomes who will bear the brunt of higher power bills and lower economic growth that follow from putting the country on a fixed energy budget.
There’s no doubt that EPA’s approach will raise the cost of electricity for consumers while further imperiling the reliability of the electric grid. EPA’s previous power plant rules have pushed our nation’s electric grid close to the edge of breaking, as we saw this past winter, and this new rule could finally break it. This is a major gamble that America cannot afford to make.
NMA is committed to working with members of Congress, state elected officials, and other leaders to pursue a much different pathway for this country, one that includes higher efficiency coal power plants using our nation’s abundant coal reserves to generate low cost, reliable electricity with lower emissions.