US considers emergency powers to restart closed coal plants
The US is eyeing emergency authority to bring back coal-fired plants that have closed and stop others from shutting, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday.
“Under the national energy emergency, which President Trump has declared, we’ve got to keep every coal plant open,” Burgum told Bloomberg Television in an interview on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston. “And if there had been units at a coal plant that have been shut down, we need to bring those back.”
Burgum, who also serves as the chair of the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council, said Biden-era policies were threatening the US power grid, necessitating emergency action.
Since 2000, about 770 individual coal-fired units have retired, according to data from Global Energy Monitor, amid competition from cheaper natural gas and to a lesser-extent renewables.
Coal accounts for about 15% of power generation in the US today, down from more than half in 2000, according to the US Energy Information Administration. An additional 120 coal-fired power plants are scheduled to shutdown in the next five years in part because of environmental regulations that have made them uneconomic, according to the America’s Power trade group representing utilities and miners such as Peabody Energy Corp. and Core Natural Resources Inc.
The effort was panned by environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, which has said coal-fired electricity is more expensive than renewable electricity and a source of dangerous global warming greenhouse gas as well as other dangerous pollutants.
“The retired coal plants that Burgum wants to restart closed because they were expensive, polluting dinosaurs,” said Laurie Williams, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Restarting them would drive up people’s electricity rates when they can least afford it”
The remarks from Burgum, who previously served as the governor of North Dakota, a major coal producing state, come as Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview Friday the administration was crafting a “market-based” plan to stem the closure of US coal-fired power plants as it seeks to supply more electricity before an expected boom in demand from artificial intelligence.
Trump, in his first term, attempted efforts to throw a life-line to cash-strapped coal and nuclear power plants, including a plan to invoke emergency authority typically reserved for natural disasters and other crises to order pay some to stay online to “serve the public interest.” Another effort involved forcing the nation’s grid operators to buy their electricity.
(By Ari Natter)
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5 Comments
Rick
This is a fantastic idea. It will help with the possibility of blackouts that alternative energy sucjh as wind/solar will not be able to keep up with. We as a nation also need to consider building more coal fired power plants with cyclone boilers or as a last resort burners. So many times I’ve seen eco terrorist groups like the Sierra club file frivolous lawsuits to take away from our energy grid/capacity. They throw them at the wall and see what sticks especially when they get a judge without any values.
jake
Fantastic idea poluting our air? LOL. There’s a reason why every country has been going away from coal. Look at India’s air quality how bad it is from coal burning. I’m going to take a guess you never left the country so you wouldn’t know. Trump supporters are so uninformed.
Rick
Most coal power plants that are running have atmosphere control equipment and clean pollutants out of the exhaust and put 99.9% steam out the stack. Take a carbon meter to a power plant; it reads .04% which is atmospheric average. If you think the air is real dirty and bothers you sell your gasoline car and get a bicycle or a horse,. If you go that far pitch a tent and live in it plus hunt and grow your own food, make your own clothes and shoes to bud. Keep in mind the moral high ground gets pretty stormy at night! Thanks Jake
Dennis W Major
Boilermakers and other trade unions have been devastated by the restrictive Obama Clean Air Act. The unions cut their throats supporting Obama and other like-minded democrats., which placed thousands of union members out of work. The democrat party is no longer the party of the working class. This country needs POWER and lots of it to promote technological growth and maintain affordable energy. MAKE COAL GREAT AGAIN! THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP.
Rick
I agree that boilermakers and trade unions are affected but a lot of it has to do with terrorist groups like the Sierra club. Also, boilermakers international will not actively look for work for the BM and are more of a communist regime towards its locals that support their embezzlement nature. We have a Supreme Court that believes epa has too much power as well. No one wants to use them.