Coal in the News

08Jan

Power-Grid Officials Criticize Plan for Cutting Emissions

A proposed federal rule to cut greenhouse-gas emissions from U.S. power plants will weaken the nation’s power grid and could even cause blackouts, say some of the officials who run the country’s electricity network. The Environmental Protection Agency wants carbon-dioxide emissions from plants that generate electricity to be 30% lower by 2030 than a benchmark […]
07Jan

Thune to EPA – Withdraw Backdoor National Energy Tax

Washington DC (KELO AM) – U.S. Sen. John Thune today sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy calling on the EPA to withdraw its proposed regulations on exiting power plants, citing the significant financial burdens it will impose on South Dakota consumers, as well as technical infeasibilities that will drive up […]
06Jan

Civil Rights Leader: Christians Should Find Increased Energy Costs Deeply Troubling

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which counts the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. among its founders, is based in Atlanta, Georgia but has branches across the country. One of SCLC’s missions is to eradicate environmental classism and racism wherever it exists. This past winter, we experienced one of the worst cold snaps and storms […]
05Jan

The Clean Power Plan Is Unconstitutional

The EPA acts as though it has the legislative authority to re-engineer the nation’s electric generating system and power grid. It does not. As a law professor, I taught the nation’s first environmental law class 45 years ago. As a lawyer, I have supported countless environmental causes. And as a father and grandfather, I want […]
31Dec

EPA’s Fibs in its War on Coal

ANALYSIS/OPINION Without affordable, reliable energy, life is short and brutal. Visit any place where families struggle to live without cheap electricity, and you will be horrified at the suffering. Without rational stewardship of natural resources, life is on a pathway to destruction. Visit any part of the world where carelessness rules resource utilization, and you […]
30Dec

Another View: Coal is an Essentual Part of Our Energy Menu

By John Pippy Times Guest Columnist Jack Rodgers’ recent letter is correct in pointing out that “crucial details need to be worked out” in the proposed Clean Power Plan. Such work remains because of the realities of supply and demand. The Clean Power Plan’s requirements will force the closings of coal-fired power plants when no […]
29Dec

Texas Says Federal Plan for Coal Plant Emissions is Too Harsh

Texas is not Kentucky. Or West Virginia. That’s clear to everyone. But there’s conflict over what these distinctions mean when it comes to President Barack Obama’s plan to sharply reduce climate-altering pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s leading source of carbon dioxide emissions. All three states burn a lot of coal, but Texas says […]
23Dec

Lawmakers Press Obama to Rescind Climate Rule

A group of bipartisan lawmakers is urging President Obama to withdraw the administration’s climate regulation on carbon pollution from existing power plants. In a letter sent to Obama on Friday, 102 members of Congress argue the proposal would “dramatically” change the way “we generate, transmit and consume electricity in the United States.” Six Democrats joined […]
22Dec

Walker Says EPA Rule Would Harm Wisconsin’s Manufacturing Sector

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 49 state legislators and two state agencies have submitted letters to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expressing concerns over the effects of its proposed Clean Power Plan. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan is a state-based carbon reduction proposal to be implemented using a section of the federal Clean Air Act. The […]
19Dec

ERCOT Warns EPA Rules Could Spur Outages, Rate Hikes

AUSTIN — The state’s electrical grid operator is warning new federal regulations could drive up the price of electricity and potentially lead to power outages in parts of the state. The last time Texans faced large-scale outages was February 2011. An unusually severe arctic blast caused several power plants to trip offline at the same […]