By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - 10/24/11 06:21 PM ET
[excerpt]
US Chamber: FERC is slacking
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pressing Senate lawmakers to mandate a new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission analysis of the effects of new and looming EPA power plant pollution rules.
The Chamber alleges that the regulations pose a threat to power grid reliability. The business group’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in a letter to the Senate’s Energy Committee, expresses “deep concern” about FERC’s “laissez-faire” approach.
From the Chamber’s Oct. 20 letter to Energy and Natural Resources Committee leaders:
As affordable and reliable energy supplies are critical inputs in sustaining American industry and are a necessary prerequisite for the future expansion of America’s economy and the creation of jobs, the Energy Institute is quite concerned that FERC’s current “wait and see” approach — if left unchecked — could seriously undermine the long-term reliability of electric power supplies in this country. As such, FERC should be required to immediately, undertake a formal process to address the reliability impacts that will likely result from the EPA’s implementation of its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, its utility MACT rules, and potential greenhouse gas New Source Performance Standards, among its other rulemakings applicable to electric utility generation facilities.
Read the full letter here.
Read the full article here.