EPA Faces Court Date for Costly Power Plan
For starters, the CPP carries a stunning price tag. Among other things, the CPP would shutter 40 percent of America’s current clean-coal fleet, and will necessitate massive new power sector construction. With characteristic nonchalance, however, EPA has simply ignored the projected $64 billion cost of new generating facilities and transmission infrastructure for roughly 24 million homes.
But these costs will be passed along to consumers—along with a $214 billion hike in wholesale electricity prices prompted by the loss of affordable, coal-fired power generation. Overall, this means that average annual household electricity bills could rise 33 percent by 2020, from 2012 levels.
Does EPA have the necessary authority to undertake such a massive undertaking? That’s what the court must decide. But 28 states are betting it doesn’t, arguing that Congress never authorized the EPA in the Clean Air Act to dictate compulsory changes to each state’s energy grid. The EPA disagrees, and now appears hell bent on turning 45 years of legal precedent on its head, insisting it can set standards not just for individual power plants but for an entire state’s power supply.
State sovereignty matters significantly here, since EPA ignores traditional state authority to manage individual energy economies. Already governors are bristling at the prospect of losing control over their electricity costs—now projected to reach double digit increases in 40 states. In fact, if the CPP is upheld in court, 16 states will likely see wholesale power prices jump by at least 25 percent.
For starters, the CPP carries a stunning price tag. Among other things, the CPP would shutter 40 percent of America’s current clean-coal fleet, and will necessitate massive new power sector construction. With characteristic nonchalance, however, EPA has simply ignored the projected $64 billion cost of new generating facilities and transmission infrastructure for roughly 24 million homes.
But these costs will be passed along to consumers—along with a $214 billion hike in wholesale electricity prices prompted by the loss of affordable, coal-fired power generation. Overall, this means that average annual household electricity bills could rise 33 percent by 2020, from 2012 levels.
Does EPA have the necessary authority to undertake such a massive undertaking? That’s what the court must decide. But 28 states are betting it doesn’t, arguing that Congress never authorized the EPA in the Clean Air Act to dictate compulsory changes to each state’s energy grid. The EPA disagrees, and now appears hell bent on turning 45 years of legal precedent on its head, insisting it can set standards not just for individual power plants but for an entire state’s power supply.
State sovereignty matters significantly here, since EPA ignores traditional state authority to manage individual energy economies. Already governors are bristling at the prospect of losing control over their electricity costs—now projected to reach double digit increases in 40 states. In fact, if the CPP is upheld in court, 16 states will likely see wholesale power prices jump by at least 25 percent.
