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Mo. wholesale power costs to rise 26 percent by 2030

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A report this month from Arlington, Va.-based energy consultants Energy Ventures Analysis found the Clean Power Plan – announced in August by the Environmental Protection Agency and President Barack Obama’s administration – would raise Missouri’s wholesale power costs 26 percent by 2030.

The study names Missouri one of 45 states facing double-digit increases in wholesale energy costs over the next 15 years. The Clean Power Plan would result in an additional $214 billion in consumer costs nationwide, according to a news release.

The National Mining Association commissioned EVA’s analysis, which also estimated it would cost an additional $64 billion to replace an estimated 41,000 megawatts of power plant capacity that would be forced to close because of the federal regulations.

The cost estimates challenge government assertions that the Clean Power Plan would be virtually cost free. According to the release, the findings demonstrate the EPA understated the power plan’s costs to consumers in at least three ways: by failing to acknowledge the higher cost of natural gas required to replace current coal generation; by failing to recognize the cost impact on industrial and other natural gas customers outside the power sector; and by failing to fully account for the costs consumers will pay for new power generation and transmission infrastructure necessary to replace coal generation.

“EVA’s findings, together with a recent study by (the National Economic Research Associates), confirm the penalty that millions of consumers will pay for a policy that lacks congressional approval or environmental benefit,” said NMA CEO and President Hal Quinn in the release.  “The findings of both studies show there are no affordable choices for states under EPA’s costly power plan.” 

Through the power plan, which is being implemented under the Clean Air Act, the EPA requires a 32 percent decrease in U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions by 2030 from 2005 levels. To achieve this goal, the Clean Power Plan would displace 40 percent of total U.S. coal-fired power generation. According to the NMA, this effort is estimated to reduce global carbon-dioxide emissions by less than 1 percent and global temperatures by 0.02 degrees Celsius by 2100.

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