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Monday, August 29, 2011
Environment - "Coal plant rules set off battle: Power industry warns of economic impact; environmentalists tout benefits"
Maureen Groppe, the Indianapolis Star Washington Bureau, reported yesterday in a story that begins:
WASHINGTON -- Hoosiers could face higher electric bills, power shortages and job losses when a series of new federal regulations is expected to hit coal-fired power plants in the coming months and years, the power industry claims.A side-bar discusses the pending regulations.Or, as environmentalists argue, the changes could lead to a cleaner environment, fewer health problems and small increases in power rates.
Those are the two outcomes being touted as power companies warn of a "regulatory train wreck" -- a combination of rules restricting the toxins and other pollutants they can send in the air, how their cooling systems use water and how they must dispose of waste.
The rules -- one of which was finalized last month -- are expected to reduce pollutants that cause cancer, neurological defects, heart and lung diseases and other health problems while reducing damage to animals, water systems and the air.
But the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission told the Environmental Protection Agency this month that the combination of pending regulations "will dramatically impact coal-fired electricity generators and their customers over a very compressed time frame."
Indiana relies on coal-fired power plants for nearly all its energy.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 29, 2011 09:21 AM
Posted to Environment