Posted on 06/30/2022 5:31:21 PM PDT by george76
Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in West Virginia vs. EPA, ruling that the Clean Air Act did not specifically authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Now, any greenhouse gas regulations would need specific authorization from Congress.
At issue was the Clean Power Plan (CPP), an EPA regulation promulgated by the Obama administration which mandated that existing coal and natural gas power plants reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. There were many problems with this regulation, some of them were legal, and some of them were practical.
Legally Speaking..
The main legal problem with the Clean Power Plan is that it relied upon a brand new and legally fraught interpretation of Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This amounted to EPA inventing the authority to regulate greenhouse gasses under the CAA, but the Supreme Court ruled that these powers were never delegated to the agency.
At issue was the idea that states and electric companies could meet the emissions targets established by EPA by generation shifting, which effectively meant reducing the use of coal-fired power plants or closing them down entirely and replacing them with a combination of wind, solar, and natural gas generation. This “outside the fence” regulation for Section 111 was an unprecedented argument that eventually was struck down.
Practically Speaking..
This decision is an enormous win for the reliability and affordability of the electric grid because it will give utility companies confidence that they can continue operating their existing coal and natural gas power plants, which are some of the most reliable and lowest-cost sources of electricity on the grid, without the looming threat of EPA regulations coming down the pike to close them down.
For example, in Minnesota, the coal-fired power generators at the Sherburne County Generating Station (Sherco) and the natural-gas-fired High Bridge Station were two of the lowest-cost sources of electricity on Xcel Energy’s system in 2019, according to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) data.
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Now, utility companies in Minnesota will not be able to use pending federal regulations as an excuse for prematurely closing down these reliable, affordable assets, which is why the electric utility industry actually supported the Obama regulations.
Baptists and Bootleggers, Utility Edition..
The CPP marked a turning point for the way investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy and wind and solar special interest groups interacted. Once, these stakeholders were often at odds, but the CPP turned them into brothers in arms.
The reason all boils down to cold hard cash.
Because electric companies in many states are government-approved monopolies and their customers are not free to choose another provider if the company in their service area charges too much or has too many power outages, it would be unfair to let them set the price of electricity to whatever the company wishes.
As a result, the price of electricity sold by utility companies is controlled by state utility regulators who use a formula to determine what the price of electricity should be each year.
The revenue formula used by regulators allows electric companies to charge their customers enough for their electricity to cover the reasonable costs of operating and maintaining the electrical system. The revenue formula also stipulates that electric companies will make their money back when they build new capital assets, whether they be power plants, transmission lines, or even new corporate offices, plus a 10 percent profit on undepreciated assets, as long as the regulator approves these new projects.
However, the 10 percent profit declines every year as the capital assets depreciate or lose value over time. This gives utilities like Xcel a powerful incentive to close down low-cost, reliable, but depreciated assets and build new wind turbines, solar panels, and natural gas plants.
This is a key reason why Xcel Energy’s corporate profits have soared as the state’s use of wind and solar has increased.
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The wind and solar groups lobby for coal plant closures and wind and solar construction, and Xcel rakes in the dough. Then, Xcel kicks some of the cash back to the green groups, and the cycle continues.
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Today’s Supreme Court decision won’t fix all of our energy policy, but it is a positive step because decisions of this magnitude should be made by elected representatives in Congress, not by unelected bureaucrats in Washington D.C.
This ruling was crucial to reining in the overreach of the administrative state.
Under its / Polis scheme, Xcel will close several perfectly functioning (paid for) power plants and then build a bevy of new, intermittent, ugly, not reliable facilities. (Higher electrical rates and more black outs..).
So much winning for Trump. Wonder what he is doing on the 4th.
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
“So much winning for Trump. Wonder what he is doing on the 4th.”
Unfortunately, not celebrating it in the White House as he should be. But America continues to reap the benefits of his presidency.
so the regulators who are supposed to be looking out for the customers were screwing the customers in favor of the green agenda
sound familiar?
Not sure but it’s almost the one year anniversary of when Trump had a rally here in Sarasota FL the night before the 4th of July. I remember Don Jr. mocking Biden when Biden was proudly saying a meal on 4 to of July was saving Americans $.16!!!!
I think he is going to announce he’s running again. With huuuuge fireworks show at his home in Florida. I want to see the libs cry more.
During the 2017 legislative session, Xcel.. failed in the Colorado state Senate.. because it made zero economic sense to force Coloradans to pay to shut down our most affordable and dependable - paid for - power plants that run 24/7, in favor of unreliable wind turbines and solar panels that increase electricity costs while decreasing dependability.
After the session, Xcel changed its tune.. by going to then governor Hickenlooper and the Public Utilities Commission for something it could not get passed through the Legislature... as its Minnesota executives and Wall Street shareholders laugh their way to the bank.
Kickbacks to .. ?
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3689070/posts
Fireworks baby. He probably will light the ski up with the Trump Victory Fireworks.
Biden has no idea what the average American is going through.
So he thinks 18 cents on gas is going to help the issue with gas prices? And 16 dollars savings is a real win for the American family.
Well this year the average July 4th dinner will be more.
That is based on 10 people at a total cost of around 69.68 dollars.
Last year it was 59.50
I am taking that from the net. Just do the search.
We need to address how the left has bastardized our language, and uses the one word ‘carbon’ for C02. C02 is PLANT FOOD. Plants use the C02 and produce..... wait for it..... oxygen (which is essential for several species, including us).
I’m beginning to realize we need to organize an award for the person / business / factory that provides the most C02. There could be preliminary awards for the most hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly max producers.
Now we need to think up a fantastic title for the award. Hmmmmmm... Plant Kingdom Friend... or better Best Friend to Plants On Planet Earth.
Eventually, we could use these awards to reintroduce teaching the Carbon Cycle as it was taught to me in my youth. A very natural, balanced system.
but the Supreme Court ruled that these powers were never delegated to the agency.Doesn't matter. Giving the EPA the power was the Obama/leftist intent. They were hoping no one would notice.
Remember when the Obama EPA destroyed a river ( intentionally blew a hole in the side of an abandoned mine and flooded the Animas river with millions of gallons of orange, toxic sludge . flows into New Mexico. ) and then claimed sovereign immunity and did not punish anybody / kept getting more and more taxpayer funding every year?
Gina McCarthy was in charge of the EPA and refused to take responsibility. She is now working for Joe Biden as White House National Climate Advisor and running the federal oil and gas leasing program.
https://twitter.com/Oilfield_Rando/status/1534214952000561153
Gina McCarthy and Deb Haaland are on Biden’s climate team. This should be interesting given both of their ties to the disastrous Gold King Mine spill of 2015. in Colorado.
https://victorygirlsblog.com/gina-mccarthy-deb-haaland-and-gold-king-mine/
As my dad used to say: Holy mucky eye.
Thanks George.
So much winning for Trump. Wonder what he is doing on the 4th.
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Trump won’t win this if the Democrats amend the statute. To keep this from happening, Republicans need to come out swinging against electricity costs and power outages.
Would be great if he did it with Mt. Rushmore in the background!
https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/energy/2019/11/18/navajo-generating-station-coal-plant-arizona-closes/2567154001/
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