Rejecting a Coal Bailout Bill

Coal consumption continues to decline in the U.S., as plants around the country are shuttered, largely due to operational costs and inexpensive natural gas and renewable energy.  As one might guess, however, this happy trend is not proceeding unencumbered.  From the Environmental Working Group:

A coalition of leading national environmental and consumer protection groups today called on state lawmakers in Indiana to scrap legislation that would make it difficult for electric utilities to retire dirty, uneconomic coal-fired power plants.

EWG, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign sent a letter today to Republican State Sen. Rodric Bray, president pro tempore of the Indiana Senate, urging rejection of H.B. 1414. The bill, recently passed by the state House, would make it harder for utilities to close any coal-fired power plant in the state.

The groups wrote:

The sole purpose of this legislation is to sustain the profits of two coal mining companies, regardless of the negative consequences – higher utility bills, harm to public health, and making it harder for utilities to retire aging, uneconomic coal-fired plants that are not necessary to ensure a reliable supply of electricity.

There is overwhelming opposition to this legislation, including from all five investor-owned utilities in Indiana. It runs fundamentally counter to the inevitable trends in the power market, including the systematic phaseout of coal-fired power.

The only support for the bill comes from the coal industry. 

One can only imagine that public opposition to the bill must be nearly universal.  Proponents could use the slogan, “We’re going to make you sick, and force you to pay for it” and put it on billboards all over the state, but I doubt that’s happening.