Oklahoma Officials Challenge EPA On Scrubber Regulations

Oklahomans can expect a 20% rise in electricity costs, thanks to the EPA.

The Heartland Institute reports on the battle between Oklahoma officials and the bureaucrats at the EPA over regulations that will force two large utilities to spend $800 million on emissions scrubbers.

The scrubbers will result in higher utility costs for all consumers – as much as 20% above current costs.

According to Kenneth Artz, a commentator with Heartland:

EPA claims the scrubbers are necessary to reduce haze and improve visibility at national parks and wilderness areas and protect the public from pollutants coming from power plants.

“Controlling emissions that improve visibility also prevents health risks including increased asthma symptoms and premature death,” the EPA said in a prepared statement.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has announced plans to appeal the EPA mandate, which the Agency handed down on Dec. 13.

H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis, says the EPA mandate has little to do with visibility limitations in national parks or health risks.

“It’s about power, shifting the power from the states where Congress and the courts have placed it, to executive agencies where this President wants it to satisfy his radical environmental constituency,” Burnett said.

“It’s [also] about stopping the use of coal,” Burnett added. “The administration has a war on coal from the mine to the power plant. The coal industry is under assault.”

“These regulations would be bad any time but especially in the current economic conditions. Even if the economy is currently on a slight economic upturn, higher energy prices could easily send it back into a tailspin. Because of their harmful effect on the economy, these regulations at this time seem especially counterproductive for an administration that claims jobs are its ‘first, second, and third concern,’” said Burnett.

Read more at The Heartland Institute.

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