Some Republican states would fight forced utility emissions cuts under
Biden climate agenda
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[December 02, 2020]
By Nichola Groom
(Reuters) - The governors of five
Republican states are ready to fight Democratic President-elect Joe
Biden if he tries to require the power sector to slash greenhouse gas
emissions.
The litigious stance reflects just one of the many obstacles Biden will
face as he seeks to deliver on a campaign promise to bring the U.S.
economy to net zero emissions by 2050 to combat climate change.
Biden's pledge includes a goal of cutting net emissions from the power
sector – a top source of nationwide greenhouse gases - to zero by 2035,
though the president-elect has yet to detail how he intends to make it
happen. Lawsuits from states could halt implementation of any Democratic
plan, as they did in 2016.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Dec/02/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_lda_christmas_2019.png)
"We can all agree that lower emissions are better, but we should also
all be able to agree that cost-prohibitive, counterproductive
regulations for the sake of catering to an extreme wing of a political
party is destructive," said Bailey Martin, a spokeswoman for Mississippi
Governor Tate Reeves.
Republican-governed Mississippi, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska and
Arkansas said they would challenge any new federal policies requiring
the power sector to cut carbon emissions. Utah and Missouri, also under
Republican governors, said they would review proposals before deciding.
The seven were among 27 states that sued in 2015 to block the Clean
Power Plan (CPP), the Obama administration’s signature effort to address
climate change by requiring deep cuts in power-sector emissions. Fifteen
other states in the lawsuit, including four now under Democratic
leadership, either declined to say how they would respond to a new
emissions reduction order or did not respond to requests for comment.
The states' lawsuit reached the Supreme Court, which stayed
implementation of the CPP in 2016. Outgoing President Donald Trump's
administration proposed rescinding the policy in 2017, a move that was
finalized last year.
Several of the states that opposed the CPP have politically powerful
coal and drilling industries that they want to protect, even though some
are seeing a big voluntary shift by utilities to cleaner energy sources.
Wyoming, for example, has a big coal industry but also rapidly growing
wind energy production. Its governor, Mark Gordon, told Reuters he would
oppose any plan that would "hamstring Wyoming's efforts to produce
energy from all her existing natural resources.”
A spokesman for Biden declined to comment.
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![](../images/120220PIX/news_v41.jpg)
A home sits in front of the William H. Zimmer Power Station, a
coal-fired power-plant, along the Ohio River in Moscow, Ohio, U.S.,
September 23, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
VOLUNTARY CUTS
Despite a dearth of federal regulation, carbon dioxide emissions
from U.S. power plants fell 20% between 2014 and 2019, according to
the U.S. Energy Information Administration, as utilities replaced
aging coal-fired power plants with facilities that generate power
from cleaner and often cheaper sources like natural gas, wind and
solar.
Many on the political right have embraced the shift into renewables
as a job-generator.
The states polled by Reuters, for example, collectively showed an
emissions decline in line with the national average, according to
EIA data. And states that voted for Trump in November's election
account for the majority of the 10 biggest consumers of renewable
energy as a percentage of overall electricity demand, according to
Environment America Research & Policy Center, a green research and
advocacy group.
For some states, this is proof federal regulations aren’t needed.
"Our power companies have voluntarily embraced sources of
alternative energy without heavy-handed regulation from government,"
Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement. "Which
indicates to me that they are following the markets. We prefer a
market-driven response to government mandates."
A spokeswoman for Missouri Governor Michael Parson pointed out that
two of the state's biggest utilities have committed to large
voluntary carbon reductions by 2050, including a net zero pledge by
Ameren Corp, which boasts 1.2 million electric customers in the
state.
Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups, however, have argued
that free-market forces can only push the utility industry so far
and that a net-zero emissions goal is not achievable without federal
regulation.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Aug/26/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png)
Dan Reicher, who was assistant secretary for renewable energy during
the Clinton administration, said policy was critical to making sure
certain states did not lag behind.
(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Cynthia Osterman)
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