Unless something happens to change the game, the Environmental Protection Agency will implement harsh new mercury standards that will make it impossible to build, or even to keep in operation, coal fired power plants.
According to a Huntington News Net analyst, "At an estimated cost of $10 billion a year, the Utility MACT Rule is the
most expensive regulation ever issued by the EPA. The rule is playing a
major role in forcing utilities to close an estimated 57 to 140
coal-fired power plants."
Although court decisions have rolled back many aggressive EPA moves, the threat remains in place so long at the federal government is led by individuals hostile to coal.
These coal fired power plants have a powerful economic impact. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the new power plant at Maidsville, in Monongalia County, was expected to 100 permanent utility jobs and 210 mining jobs in nearby Preston County. An industry fact sheet estimated that half a billion dollars would be invested in West Virginia, as well as over 300 million in nearby Pennsylvania counties.
Multiply these numbers by all of the potential power plants built in the United States over the next decade and one sees staggering losses in West Virginia, Wyoming, and many other states. Add to that the threat of declining reliability, which is already happening in California.
Congress and the courts can only restrain the EPA so many different ways. The voters need to address the leviathan's master.
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