10/10/2017

CLIMATE CHANGE/ENERGY/EPA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Some of the biggest U.S. power companies said they are pushing ahead with investments in renewable and gas-fired electricity and are including climate change as a part of their corporate strategy, regardless of the Trump administration’s plans to roll back Obama-era environmental rules.
President Donald Trump has pledged to boost the energy industry by cutting regulation, and on Tuesday [10-10-17] his administration took one of its biggest steps yet toward that goal. The head of the Environmental Protection Agency signed a proposal to repeal the first federal limits on carbon emissions at power plants, which would vacate the Obama administration’s cornerstone plan to slow global warming.
Some sizable power companies, such as American Electric Power Co. , NRG Energy Inc. and Southern Co. , said Tuesday the move will have only a marginal effect on their planning. Cheap fuel, improving technology and consumer demand are creating a market for cleaner energy that is largely unaffected by what is happening in Washington.
But the move has symbolic and long-term implications. The Obama-era rules drew fire from Republicans and their allies in business who saw them as a prime example of government overreach. The Trump administration argues that the Obama rules weren’t allowed under the Clean Air Act—an issue that will likely be argued in court for years. Environmentalists see the rules as crucial to accelerating a shift from carbon-based fuels to renewable-power sources.”

-Timothy Puko, “Power Companies to Stick With Plans Despite EPA’s Emissions Repeal,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 10, 2017 06:24pm