When Cost of EPA Rules Hit Home, Watch Out

Via The Kearney Hub:

Lots of numbers have been tossed out over the past several weeks as Nebraska officials react to the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of more aggressive clean air goals and what they mean for coal-fired generating plants, but here is the most dismaying statistic: Nebraska electrical rates stand to increase by 24 percent because of the EPA’s goals.

Why will Nebraskans’ electrical costs rise so much? It’s because in the long term, we’re a state that’s heavily invested in coal from neighboring Wyoming. Coal is nearby, it’s cleaner burning than what’s mined elsewhere in the United States, it’s abundant, and it’s less expensive than most other energy sources for generating electricity.

With all that coal has going for it, we needn’t question energy officials’ decisions years ago to build large coal-fired generating facilities and take advantage of Nebraska’s proximity to Wyoming’s coal fields. Fast forward 30 or 40 years, however, and it’s a different world. Scientists tell us that burning petroleum is altering our climate, and based on those claims, President Obama and the EPA want the United States to do its part in cleaning up the atmosphere.

The result: Electrical rates that will jump by 24 percent and cost our state $3.5 billion more per year by 2020. Nebraska has no choice but to resist the EPA mandate, and it appears we might have a sound argument because the 40-percent reduction in greenhouse gases the EPA has prescribed for Nebraska is far higher than what Congress prescribed. EPA may not possess the constitutional authority to exceed congressional clean air standards.

While Nebraskans wait for the courts to decide whether the EPA has stepped over the line, we have some decisions to make and some changes in our lifestyles and business practices to contemplate.

We expect our state’s power suppliers, including Nebraska Public Power District — which produces electricity for 86 of our state’s 93 counties — to continue diversifying its generating sources to greener wind, natural gas and other energy forms. We residents of Nebraska also need to think about our approaches to energy. In particular, we need to conserve and cut our usage. NPPD and other power districts can assist with educational programs that address how Nebraskans use energy at home and in their farms and businesses.

We may not feel compelled to save today, but when the 24-percent rate hikes take effect, most of us will get more serious about reducing our consumption.

See the article here.

  • On August 26, 2015