Trump EPA plan would prolong power plants, but Wisconsin utilities are moving away from coal

Ledyard King | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption This weather event hasn't happened since 1984 NOAA climate scientists say April 2018 marked the planet's 400th consecutive month with above-average temperatures.

WASHINGTON - Aging coal-fired power plants could get a new lease on life under an industry-friendly proposal by the Trump administration that would replace the Clean Power Plan, Barack Obama's signature strategy to confront climate change.

Unveiled Tuesday, the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule would give states like Wisconsin broad latitude to in how they would regulate power plants' greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming as well as other pollutants, such as smog, soot and mercury.

But in Wisconsin, the state's two largest utilities said they are moving ahead with plans to burn less coal and more natural gas and renewable energy — regardless of the plan by President Donald Trump. Natural gas produces about half of the carbon emissions as coal.

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States have three years to file plans with federal regulators to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources — whose top officials opposed the Obama plan, saying it was too expensive — said it will evaluate the details of Tuesday's announcement.

Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told reporters that Obama's Clean Power Plan exceeded the EPA's legal authority.

"Today we are fulfilling the president's agenda," Wheeler said. "We are proposing a (plan) that promotes affordable clean and reliable energy for all Americans."

But by EPA's own admission, the proposal could lead to more than 1,000 premature deaths a year, a statistic opponents pounced on.

“With today’s Dirty Power Plan proposal, the Trump EPA once again proves that it cares more about extending the lives of old coal plants rather than saving the lives of the American people,” said Conrad Schneider, advocacy director of the Clean Air Task Force.

In addition, environmental groups and some states vowed to sue to stop the plan's implementation just as opponents of Obama's Clean Power Plan have done.

In a tweet, California Gov. Jerry Brown called the EPA proposal "a declaration of war against America and all of humanity" that will not go unanswered.

This is a declaration of war against America and all of humanity – it will not stand. Truth and common sense will triumph over Trump’s insanity. https://t.co/bfdhPH6ewC — Jerry Brown (@JerryBrownGov) August 21, 2018

The Clean Power Plan rule was finalized in 2015, mainly targeting coal-fired power plants that account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. But it remains on hold under a Supreme Court stay pending the outcome of the legal challenge from the states.

In October, then-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt rolled it back, carrying out a promise by Trump to push an energy agenda that encouraged the use of coal. The president, who has called global warming "a hoax" perpetrated by China to gain a competitive edge, wrote in a May 18 tweet that "we have ended the war on coal."

America is blessed with extraordinary energy abundance, including more than 250 years worth of beautiful clean coal. We have ended the war on coal, and will continue to work to promote American energy dominance! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018

Aimed squarely at coal-fired power plants, Obama's proposal would require existing power plants to cut harmful emissions compared to 2005 levels. By 2030, the reduction would be 32 percent for carbon, 90 percent for sulfur dioxide and 72 percent for nitrogen oxides.

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But in recent weeks, Wisconsin’s two largest public utilities pledged far deeper cuts in carbon emissions than previous predictions.

Madison-based Alliant Energy says it intends to stop burning carbon-intensive coal altogether in its electric power plants by 2050.

Alliant and WEC Energy Group of Milwaukee both said they would cut carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 40% by 2030. They also have recently set new goals to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.

WEC Energy Group does not plan to change its current strategy. "We will continue to focus on retiring older, less-efficient, coal-fueled units, building advanced technology natural gas units and investing in cost-effective, zero carbon renewable generation," spokeswoman Amy Jahns said in an email.

Alliant spokesman Scott Reigstad said his company is investing $2 billion on renewable energy between 2016 and 2020. Alliant's approach was developed independently of either administration or the Paris climate accords.

The EPA's Wheeler called the Obama plan "overly prescriptive and burdensome" that would have led to "double-digit" increase in electricity prices in as many as 40 states. EPA officials said consumer prices will fall slightly under the Trump plan by 2025.

Clean Wisconsin's Scott Blankman said the environmental group believes the Obama administration's prodding and market changes that ushered in lower prices for natural gas, solar and wind power were catalysts for the shift by Wisconsin utilities.

He said that Trump plan and the rollback of Obama plans "ignored what the energy industry already knows."

According to the EPA, the Trump plan would:

• Define the “best system of emission reduction” for existing power plants as on-site, heat-rate efficiency improvements.

• Provide states with a list of “candidate technologies” that can be used to establish standards of performance and be incorporated into their state plans.

• Update the New Source Review permitting program to further encourage "efficiency improvements" at existing power plants.

• Give states "adequate time and flexibility" to develop their own plans.

Environmental groups decried the plan as a sop to the coal industry at the expense of public health and the inescapable reality of climate change.

Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator under Obama and an architect of the Clean Power Plan, called the Trump administration's move "a huge gimme to coal-fired power plants" by giving them a "free pass" to increase not just carbon emissions but other unhealthy pollutants as well.

"They are continuing to play to their base and they are following industry's playbook step by step," she told reporters. "This is all about coal at all costs."

Lee Bergquist of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.