Do Power Plants That Burn Coal Waste Need Leeway on Emissions Standards? (H.R. 1119)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is H.R. 1119?
(Updated December 17, 2019)
This bill — the SENSE Act — would ease emissions regulations for facilities which generate electricity by burning coal refuse by providing them with an alternative means of complying with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS). Such facilities would be able to choose an emissions standard for either hydrogen chloride or sulfur dioxide with which to comply. Affected power plants generate electricity by burning coal refuse — a waste byproduct of coal that when sitting idle can catch fire or pollute bodies of water — as their primary fuel source, generating relatively inexpensive energy.
The bill’s full title is the Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment Act.
Argument in favor
Coal refuse piles are an environmental and aesthetic blight on the communities they neighbor. Thankfully, coal refuse power plants not only remove and clean up those piles, but generate affordable energy. Emissions regulations should do more to accommodate these power plants.
Argument opposed
While coal refuse piles are environmental nuisances polluting nearby bodies of water or catching on fire, burning the coal waste to generate power simply trades one type of pollution for the another. This would unfairly advantage coal refuse power plants at the expense of other energy producers.
Impact
People who receive their electricity from, or work for coal refuse power plants; and the EPA.
Cost of H.R. 1119
The CBO estimates that enacting this bill would have an insignificant impact on the budget.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Keith Rothfus (R-PA) introduced this bill to save coal jobs and clean up the environment:
“My legislation will save good-paying jobs in the coal refuse-to-energy industry that creates affordable energy for consumers and has remediated waste coal piles across Western Pennsylvania. We’ve already seen the enormous environmental and economic benefits of this industry, especially in Allegheny, Cambria, and Somerset counties. By moving away from one-size-fits-all government regulations and instead crafting responsibly tailored regulations, we can keep Pennsylvanians employed and continue to restore Western Pennsylvania’s beautiful streams and hillsides.”
House Democrats opposed this bill in committee, writing:
“It comes as no surprise that the majority is once again offering legislation to undermine CAA regulations to benefit coal-fired power plants at the expense of public health. What is surprising is that the SENSE Act puts major coal-fired plants at a disadvantage relative to waste coal plants by granting them unnecessary and un-warranted regulatory relief.”
This legislation passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee on a party-line vote of 31-23 and has the support of six Republican cosponsors.
Media:
Summary by Eric Revell
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