On June 2, 2014, at President Obama’s direction, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed rule mandating carbon dioxide emission cuts for existing power plants. This rule is part of the president’s plan to make electricity rates “necessarily skyrocket” by forcing states to reduce the use of coal-fired electricity generation from existing power plants—one of the cheapest sources of electricity generation.
The chart below shows the reductions EPA is requiring for each state. For an idea of what this will cost the American people, the best estimate comes from a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. EPA claims the Chamber’s study is inapplicable because the Chamber modeled a 42 percent reduction while EPA claims that it will only mandate a 30 percent reduction. But EPA’s Administrator has already admitted that the “30 percent reduction” they announced in their press release “isn’t the goal.” As experts learn more, it appears that the impacts of EPA’s regulation will be much closer to the Chamber of Commerce’s study.
