As part of the lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant rule, NRECA and 10 electric cooperatives submitted statements of harm to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit outlining how the rule threatens reliable and affordable electricity. Follow the links below to review summaries of these statements.
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp.
AECC co-owns coal-based electric generating units that will be affected by the EPA’s power plant rule. Retirement by 2032 is the only option for these two plants. This forces AECC to immediately begin spending money to replace the power generated by the plants. The cost of these investments will be passed on to its consumers. Read more
Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.
As early as next year, the rates that Associated Electric charges would increase more than 50% above the increase that would be expected without the EPA’s power plant rule. Those increases are a direct result of the massive costs that the rule creates. Associated Electric will be forced to pass those costs on to its consumers, at least 40% of whom live in poverty. Read more
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
By forcing power plants Basin Electric Power Cooperative owns or receives power from to retire early, the EPA power plant rule seriously threatens Basin Electric’s ability to provide the power its member co-ops need to keep the lights on at a cost their members can afford. Read more
Buckeye Power Inc.
Given the loss of baseload power, the inability for new coal or gas-fired plants to meet the level of carbon capture required by the power plant rule and the time required to build even intermittent renewables or low-capacity turbines, Buckeye Power expects reliability issues and significantly higher rates for its consumers if the rule goes into effect. Read more
Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc.
Without the ability to urgently proceed with planning and permitting new natural gas combined cycle projects, South Carolina utilities will be ill-equipped to keep up with the Palmetto State’s rapid growth and soaring energy demands, much less move forward with plans to retire coal-fired power plants. Read more
Dairyland Power Cooperative
Dairyland Power Cooperative’s only choice under the EPA power plant rule is to retire its John P. Madgett Station by 2032. No matter what source Dairyland chooses for replacement power, it will soon begin incurring expenses that will be passed on to its consumers. Read more
East Kentucky Power Cooperative
East Kentucky Power Cooperative generates more than half of its electricity from power plants that would be affected by the EPA power plant rule. If the rule goes into effect, the communities that rely on EKPC are likely to find themselves with less reliable power or without the means to pay for it, or both. Read more
Golden Spread Electric Cooperative Inc.
The EPA power plant rule will hurt the continued development of renewable resources in geographic areas served by Golden Spread and other co-ops. By strictly limiting how much of the time new gas power plants can run, the rule ignores their important role in ensuring grid reliability and efficiency, especially as the use of solar and wind increase. Read more
Minnkota Power Cooperative
If the EPA’s power plant rule forces Minnkota to abandon Project Tundra, its carbon capture and storage demonstration project, then it will also be forced to pursue an alternative means of compliance with the rule, which will force early retirement of its Milton R. Young Station power plant. This would strand hundreds of millions of dollars and severely affect Minnkota’s ability to provide its customers with reliable, affordable electricity. It would also put more strain on the grid during a time when demand for power is increasing and always-available generation is decreasing. Read more
NRECA
The EPA power plant rule jeopardizes the ability of co-ops to fulfill their mission to provide affordable, reliable and safe electricity to their consumer-members. Because co-ops must make business decisions now to comply with the EPA power plant rule, the rule will have immediate and irreparable economic consequences if it is not stayed until the courts have had a full opportunity for review. Read more