ARLINGTON, Va. – NRECA’s regulatory director of Environmental Policy today outlined the association’s support for repealing the Clean Power Plan (CPP) and replacing it with a reasonable and durable rule. Daniel Chartier spoke on behalf of NRECA during an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public hearing in Charleston, West Virginia.
“NRECA supports EPA’s efforts to repeal the Clean Power Plan, and strongly encourages EPA to propose and finalize a 111(d) rule, consistent with the history of the regulation,” Chartier said. “Both actions are needed to provide America’s electric cooperatives and their members with a rule that is clear and durable. We encourage EPA to act quickly to develop a common-sense, flexible replacement rule for the Clean Power Plan that is legally defensible and ensures the flexibility, affordability and reliability of electricity production for Americans who depend on electric cooperatives.”
Chartier offered three reasons NRECA supports the agency’s proposal to repeal the CPP:
- By requiring actions “outside the fence line” of a power plant, the CPP was based on a flawed and expansive view of EPA’s authority to regulate power plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. Before the CPP, every Section 111 rule was based on measures that could be applied at the power plant itself.
- The CPP violates the concept of cooperative federalism, a bedrock principle of Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act giving states—not EPA—the lead to establish performance standards for power plants on a unit-by-unit basis.
- EPA’s economic analysis of the Clean Power Plan was highly controversial, understating the costs and overstating the benefits. For example, the agency’s original analysis compared domestic cost estimates against global climate benefits.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.
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