Subject: Obama’s War on Coal Is Driving up Energy Costs, Disproportionately Affecting the Poor

In June of 2013, former science advisor to the Obama administration Daniel Schrag told the New York Times that:

“The one thing the president really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”

The president’s war is working.

According to a recently released report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), more than 80 percent of the nearly 18 gigawatts of electric generating capacity retired in 2015 was conventional steam coal. This represents 4.6 percent of the nation’s coal capacity at the start of 2015.

The Energy Information Administration gives two primary reasons for the recent decline in coal. First is that companies have switched fuel because of the abundance of inexpensive natural gas from fracking. The other reason for coal’s demise is much more problematic: Burdensome regulations devoid of any significant direct environmental benefit.

One such regulation is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule, which went into effect in April of 2015. A study done by National Economic Research Associates included indirect costs and found the rule has an economic cost of $25.6 billion per year.

The EPA credits this regulation with 30 percent of coal retirement in 2015. The rule requires approximately 600 facilities to cut mercury emissions by a substantial amount. The EPA predicted this rule will have an annual cost of $9.6 billion to the U.S. electricity sector —what’s worse is that other studies have been estimated to have an even more significant effect.

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