The federal government's regulatory policies regarding carbon emissions will have a detrimental impact on Pennsylvania in terms of lost jobs and higher electricity prices, the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance told the House Democratic Policy Committee Monday.

George Ellis, Coal Alliance president, speaking in Pennsylvania's largest coal-producing county, said recent policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are causing the premature closing of coal plants.

"The added compliance costs for recently adopted EPA policies and the regulatory uncertainty about the scope and level of future regulations have led some generators to rethink their fuel options," Ellis said.

Plants at Hatfield's Ferry, Mitchell, Elrama, Armstrong, New Castle, Portland, Titus and Shawville are designated for retirement.  Together they represent more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, or about ten percent of Pennsylvania's currently installed electric capacity.

The impact of these plant closings will be felt in their communities and the surrounding region, not just in terms of the plant jobs lost but throughout the other sectors of the economy as well, he said.  Additionally, removing such a significant proportion of coal-fueled electricity from the energy portfolio will mean higher electricity prices and will threaten the stability of the power grid.

"The bottom line is you cannot simply jettison coal from our generation mix and still expect to have an affordable and reliable source of electricity to help foster a growing economy," Ellis said.  "There are environmental and pricing challenges inherent with using any existing energy source.  If we shy away from using any of our domestic resources merely because they post challenges, we will find ourselves with fewer, more expensive and less reliable energy options."

Ellis noted that Pennsylvania is the nation's fourth-largest coal producer by volume and contributes about $7 billion to the state's economy.  The industry supports 41,500 direct and indirect jobs in the state, with a payroll of more than $2.2 billion per year.

He also noted that technological advancements are paying off with significant reductions in various emissions, and that mining safety is at a higher level than at any point in history.

Coal also is the nation's largest indigenous fossil fuel, and utilizing it reduces the need for foreign energy sources, he said.

Greene County's economy, in particular, benefits significantly from the six major mines located there.  They produce 65 percent of Pennsylvania's coal and represent half of the state's mining workforce.  Three of the top four employers in Greene County are mining companies.

"The true path toward energy security and economic prosperity is a balanced energy policy that wisely utilizes all of our indigenous resources, including coal, through market-driven choices to satisfy demand," he said.

New Carbon Limits

John Pippy, CEO of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance, made the following statement in response to the proposed federal standards on carbon emissions proposed this week:

"These standards effectively ban construction of new, efficient coal-fueled power plants that greatly reduce emissions through the use of clean-coal technology.  This will force a reliable, affordable, domestically produced fuel source out of the energy mix, causing dire economic consequences across all sectors of the economy, with little or no environmental improvement to show for it.

"Pennsylvania's economy will be disproportionately affected through the loss of thousands of middle-class jobs, and manufacturers, commercial businesses and individual consumers will all pay more for electricity.

"We do not need to choose between a cleaner environment and reliable, affordable electricity and the jobs that go along with it.  We can have all of those things with a collaborative approach that relies on science and technology rather than on what is perceived as politically fashionable."

For more information, visit the PA Coal Alliance website.

Other Reaction

John W. Carroll, an environmental attorney with Pepper Hamilton, said, “This proposed new rule confirms the fears expressed by the power plant industry for some time that the EPA’s approach to regulating coal-fired plants – new or old – would require the use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology that most argue is not yet commercially proven and certain to be high cost. 

“The EPA’s endorsement of this approach in today’s proposal for new plants strongly suggests that the agency will impose similar requirements on existing plants when it proposes that rule next summer. 

“This expected increase in costs for new, unproven technology, combined with the lower costs we see in today’s market for natural gas—as well as recent EPA rules regulating mercury and air toxins from power plants that also ratchet down allowable limits of those emissions and impose significant retrofit requirements—are all combining to convince some power plant operators to close down existing coal plants."

NewsClips:

New Coal Plants Must Limit Carbon Pollution Under EPA Plan

New EPA Controls Will Curb Coal-Fired Plants

Op-Ed: Pennsylvania Is Coal Country

9/23/2013