Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) represents a state that produces the second-largest amount of coal in the United States. Only Wyoming digs up more. Naturally, Biden’s climate schemes to destroy the coal industry are in the powerful Senator’s cross-hairs.
Tomorrow, the Environmental Protection Agency will release new regulations governing power plant carbon emissions. They will especially target coal-fired plants. The new rule will require power plant companies to “capture” up to 80% of their carbon emissions and eliminate them by 2040.
“This Administration is determined to advance its radical climate agenda and has made it clear they are hellbent on doing everything in their power to regulate coal and gas-fueled power plants out of existence, no matter the cost to energy security and reliability,” Manchin said.
“Just last week, before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, every FERC Commissioner agreed that we cannot eliminate coal today or in the near future if we want to have a reliable electric grid,” he added.
But the Biden administration sees a “reliable electric grid” as being less important than cutting greenhouse emissions — just like California which has banked on “renewable energy” to the point that in peak periods, there isn’t enough electricity to fully supply the grid with power.
If implemented, the Environmental Protection Agency would set limits so stringent that fossil-fuel-burning power plants probably would have to use technology to capture their carbon dioxide emissions from their smokestacks or switch to other fuels to comply, according to the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a plan that is not yet public. The proposal is still under final analysis at the White House and could change before the EPA completes and announces it.
“If the reports are true, the pending EPA proposal would impact nearly all fossil-fueled power plants in the United States, which generate about 60 percent of our electricity, without an adequate plan to replace the lost baseload generation,” Manchin said.
“This piles on top of a broader regulatory agenda being rolled out designed to kill the fossil industry by a thousand cuts.”
What else did we expect when we placed climate change fanatics in charge? There’s no such thing as a gradual shift toward renewables. The hysterics have convinced themselves that radical action is needed now or we’re all doomed! No time to weigh alternative plans of action. The radicals aren’t going to be happy unless they bring the U.S. and other Western economies to a halt.
Overall, there are 3,393 fossil fuel-fired power plants nationwide, the majority of which are natural gas plants, according to the most recent federal data. Those plants generate more than 60% of the nation’s electricity, compared to the roughly 14% of electricity generated by wind and solar projects.
However, EPA data shows that the electric power sector accounts for about 25% of total U.S. emissions, placing it behind only the transportation sector and slightly ahead of the industrial sector, making the sector a target of Democrats and environmental organizations.
Manchin’s threat to act as a roadblock to EPA picks could really throw a monkey wrench into Biden’s climate plans. But the West Virginia senator would only need one more moderate Democrat to join him in blocking Biden’s nominees. Given the radicalism of Biden’s emissions plans, it probably won’t be that difficult.
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