Marathon Pundit: Bayh says EPA overregulation means bye to jobs growth

Mishawaka, Indiana, Labor Day, 2009

Former Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana got the message in early 2010 that his reelection hopes were dicey that November. That billboard might have helped him to decide to retire.

Unfortunately his fellow Democrats in the White House still don't get it. Maybe Bayh's Indianapolis Star op-ed will get noticed there.

Coal contributes nearly $2 billion annually to Indiana's economy, supporting thousands of Hoosier jobs and keeping energy costs modest. It provides low-cost power to keep our state's electric bills affordable and our industries competitive. In this time of economic uncertainty and strained middle-class family budgets, it would be unwise to institute regulations that cost jobs and raise household expenses. Unfortunately, some have not thoroughly examined the broader impact on our economy new federal regulations could have.

The Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology Rule will put tens of thousands of jobs in our state directly at risk by affecting Hoosiers' utilities that rely on coal-fired power to keep our lights on and manufacturing facilities working. Even though the electric utility industry has invested billions of dollars over the past two decades to reduce emissions, the Utility MACT Rule orders coal-fired utilities to spend additional billions on retrofitting technologies to decrease the amount of emissions released as a production byproduct. Power plants that cannot reasonably afford these compliance costs will have to shut down and be replaced in a short timeframe by new generation and transmission at substantial cost to consumers.

While I support efforts that contribute to a cleaner environment, the effectiveness of a regulation must be weighed against the economic detriment it will cause through lost jobs and higher costs. This is a particularly bad time to add to the burdens of families and businesses.

The Utility MACT Rule also impacts the reliability of our electricity supply. Maintaining the flow of electricity is more than a theoretical concern when several power companies have announced plant shutdowns in anticipation of the rule. This summer, PJM, the operator of the nation's largest power grid, which services part of Indiana, expressed concern about maintaining reliability. Five major independent power grid operators -- including MISO, the other power grid operator serving Indiana -- also expressed similar unease about potential reliability impacts of EPA's proposal. Reliability concerns from EPA's rules affecting power plants are real, and they have not been properly evaluated by the agency.