Energy
Department Puts Together a Scheme to Subsidize Obsolete Coal and Nuclear
Plants
By
Sarah Okeson
Energy Secretary Rick
Perry is working to make our children’s lives worse and our
planet hotter by financially bailing out polluting coal companies.
Perry wants to keep
aging coal and nuclear power plants operating and financially reward some plants that can
keep three months of fuel on-site.
This could push up electricity rates by as much as $3.8 billion a year through 2030.
This could push up electricity rates by as much as $3.8 billion a year through 2030.
“The Trump administration wants taxpayers to pay more for an earlier death,” said philanthropist Michael Bloomberg who has funded the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign to pressure coal plants to shut down.
Perry insists
subsidies for our nation’s polluters are needed to help keep our power grid
safe from extreme weather and terrorists. The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission could vote by Dec. 11 on the proposed
rule.
“I think this
administration is literally trying to bring coal back from the grave,” said Sen. Maria
Cantwell (D-Wash.).
Perry’s push to prod
the commission to approve the so-called Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule appears to
be written to benefit Murray Energy.
The climate-change-denying CEO, Robert Murray, and Murray Energy
employees donated more than $115,000 to Perry’s
failed 2012 presidential campaign, his second largest corporate donor,
and donated more than $300,000last year to the
Trump campaign.
Less than 25% of the nation’s coal and nuclear plants would
qualify for the increased rates in the Energy Department proposal. Only four
out of dozens of electricity markets in our country would be affected.
PJM Interconnection, the
market that buys most Murray Energy coal, also benefits the most. PJM is the
nation’s largest wholesale electricity market with customers in 13 states.
“If you want to tax customers to do favors for friends, be
honest about it,” said Nora Mead Brownell, a former FERC
commissioner who was appointed by former President George W. Bush.
Wholesale competitive
electric markets were created under former President George H.W. Bush to foster competition. The average retail
price per kilowatt of electricity, adjusted for inflation, has dropped from 16
cents, including taxes, in 1992 to about 10 cents in 2016.
“Wholesale competition worked as intended, driving
inefficient, high-cost generation out of the market,” said consultant Alison
Silverstein.
Perry is fudging facts
to try to justify raising rates. Perry says his plan would protect the grid from power outages caused
by coal and nuclear power plants that close because they can’t compete with
cheaper, cleaner wind and solar energy and natural gas.
But only 0.0007%, or 2,815 hours, of 3.4 billion
customer-hours of major electricity disruptions from 2012 to
2016 was due to fuel supply problems. Severe weather caused many outages.
Silverstein helped
write a report for Perry that said regulation isn’t a huge factor in closing
coal and nuclear plants. Perry’s Energy Department rejiggered her report to bolster the case
for help for Perry’s former campaign donors.
“Perry and his team
are doing all the right things for the cause, and if it works, great!”
Silverstein said. “If it doesn’t work, it’s someone else’s fault. I
think that’s the raw political answer.”
ACTION BOX/What You Can Do About It
Call Rick
Perry at 202-586-5000 to let him know your thoughts about subsidizing
polluters who will make our planet hotter or write him at 1000 Independence
Ave. SW, Washington, D.C. 20585. He is also on Twitter and Facebook.
Contact the FERC
commissioners to urge them not to raise our electric rates to benefit outdated
coal and nuclear plants. Chairman Neil Chatterjee is at
202-502-8852. Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur is 202-502-8961.
Commissioner Robert Powelson is at 202-502-6481.
Commissioner Richard Glick is at 202-502-6530. You can also
write the commissioners at Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 1st St.
NE, Washington D.C, 20426.
Donate to
the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign to support closing
outdated, polluting coal plants.