In a letter to members of Congress this week, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) joined other industry associations in support of H.R. 3826, the “Electricity Security and Affordability Act.”
H.R. 3826 would ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations are done in a reasonable manner that protects a true “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. The AISI and other signatories of letter applauded the balanced approach to addressing GHG emissions, placing reasonable parameters on EPA’s currently unworkable GHG regulations.
According to the letter, newly-published EPA mandates for power plant performance standards would severely limit the types of new power plants available to supply the nation’s future electricity needs. For a coal plant to be built in the US, the Administration’s proposed regulation requires it to be equipped with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) systems. The letter stated that while CCS is an emerging technology with great promise for future application in the power sector, it is not an adequately demonstrated, commercially available or cost effective one for a utility-scale power generation project. Mandating the inclusion of CCS effectively bans the construction of any coal-fired power plant going forward.
Additionally, the letter stated that the Administration is crafting regulations that could dramatically impact the future viability of the nation’s existing fleet of power plants. These are the power generators on which households and businesses currently depend for safe, reliable, and reasonably priced electricity. If the Administration pursues an overly aggressive path for the existing power plant rule as it has for the new power plant rule, energy prices will rise for consumers across the board, threatening the competitiveness of U.S. businesses and American jobs.
Signatories of the letter believe H.R. 3826 offers a sensible path forward for the Administration’s GHG regulations. For new power plants, the bill requires separate standards for coal and gas, with the coal standard subcategorized for coal types and aligned with the best-performing commercially available generation technologies. It provides a reasonable path forward for CCS, prohibiting EPA from mandating its use until the technology has been deployed by at least six units located at different commercial power plants in the United States--in other words, until it is truly ready. Finally, it allows EPA to craft rules or guidelines for existing power plants, but it requires Congress to review them and set a start date before they can take effect. H.R. 3826 would give the regulated community certainty by preserving a true “all-of-the-above” energy policy. The undersigned organizations stand ready to work with the sponsors of this legislation to attract broad, bipartisan support and, ultimately, to enact it.