When Energy Secretary Rick Perry – who famously said he would abolish the Department of Energy, only to forget the name of the agency of which he’s now in charge – asked DOE to study how regulations are distorting electricity markets, the pro-renewables community expected the worst. Now that the study is out, it throws cold water on the claims made by both Republican leaders and mainstream environmental groups that Obama’s clean air policies have hurt dirty power plants.
While that might seem obvious to anyone working in the industry, it is particularly telling, coming from an Administration hell-bent on repealing “job-killing regulations.” Perry could have demanded a study more consistent with his boss’s campaign rhetoric. Instead, he got a more truthful assessment of market dynamics.
As a result, the report should place the GOP leadership in an awkward position, since even the Trump Administration can’t squarely blame federal regulatory overreach on job losses in the coal sector.
But federal regulations championed by the Sierra Club haven’t made much of a dent. In fact, one study from Columbia University published in April found that only 3.5% of the coal industry’s decline was attributable to environmental or health regulations.
One study from Columbia University found that only 3.5% of the coal industry’s decline was attributable to environmental or health regulations.
In my view, both the GOP and mainstream environmental groups need to get real. Republicans and enviros both know that regulations have played a very small role in coal’s retreat. I don’t really expect Republicans in Congress to acknowledge this, what with our living in the post-truth age and all that. But for enviros, the self-deception is more concerning. Can they maintain a coherent political strategy built around the false notion that government intervention is making a difference in reducing coal’s role in the energy mix?
Trump Digs Coal: Stephen Colbert mimics the Miner-In-Chief.