Texas’ Clean Energy Producers Stand To Lose If EPA Abandons Clean Power Plan

The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan would have boosted renewable energy and natural gas. The EPA’s repeal favors coal.

By Jill Ament & Michael MarksOctober 16, 2017 2:13 pm, , ,

Last week Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Pruitt announced the EPA will try to repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. That’s just one of many regulatory rollbacks the agency is pursuing.

The Clean Power Plan would have been a big boost for Texas. Kiah Collier, a reporter for the Texas Tribune, says to expect legal challenges to the repeal.

“Texas is the number one wind producer, as well as the number one producer of natural gas, so Texas stood to benefit economically if the Clean Power Plan had taken effect,” she says.

The effort to repeal the plan has created some strange bedfellows. Advocates for natural gas and advocates for renewable energy have teamed up to oppose policies that would prop up the coal industry.  

“Natural gas, which is cleaner-burning and a lot cheaper than coal, is one of the biggest winners from these clean-power policies that were put in place by the Obama administration,” Collier says.  

 

Written by Jen Rice.