Utility threat to shutter coal plants fuels EPA battle

Utility powerhouse American Electric Power’s (AEP) claim that looming Environmental Protection Agency rules will force it to shutter five coal-fired power plants is quickly feeding political battles over EPA as House lawmakers ready their return to Capitol Hill next week.

“This announcement is further proof of the devastating economic impacts of Obama’s anti-energy agenda,” said Charlotte Baker, a spokeswoman for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), in a statement.

The utility said Thursday that EPA rules will hike prices, kill jobs and lead to the closure in the next few years of five coal-plants, and require costly changes at other plants (check out E2’s Thursday coverage here).

AEP’s claims come as House Republicans are seeking to soften or delay several EPA rules, such as pending standards for mercury and other toxics, and new requirements for controlling waste products from burning coal.

The House has already passed legislation to block EPA climate change rules, and the energy panel is also moving a bill that would require a new interagency analysis of the cumulative economic effects of EPA rules.

Baker said various EPA rules will saddle the coal industry with huge costs. "These costs have real consequences — families struggling with high energy costs and thousands of Americans who are losing their jobs," Baker said Thursday.

The matter may also surface across the Capitol next week when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a Wednesday hearing on the Clean Air Act and public health.

A major environmental group on Thursday evening pushed back against claims by Ohio-based AEP, which provides power to millions of total customers in states including West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

“The company's plan highlights a simple fact that AEP failed to mention: Closing plants is a business decision, plain and simple,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, in a statement.



She adds: “EPA regulations do not require any power plants to shut down. Companies like AEP make the decision — either invest in common retrofits like scrubbers to clean up pollution, or close down old and poorly controlled plants and replace them with cleaner, more efficient generation.”

The politically connected utility spent over $10 million on lobbying in 2010, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The company is pushing Congress to delay compliance with several rules.

Patton said the company is seeking to “unravel” protections that are projected to save over 50,000 lives annually.

Lawmakers from states where AEP is planning to shutter plants and retire some generating units — which include political battleground states like West Virginia and Ohio — are calling the utility’s announcement proof that EPA rules go too far.

“Today’s announcement by AEP is a specific example of how the administration’s overregulation is stifling the economy at a time when we need to grow the economy. America needs a low-cost, not high-tax national energy plan that ensures we have access to reliable, affordable domestic energy,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) in a statement Thursday.