Energy group: Only thing Clean Power Plan will reduce is jobs

Responding to Monday's release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final Clean Power Plan, the Partnership for Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) released a statement condemning the regulation, which is the first to limit carbon pollution from power plants.

“A year ago in Atlanta, we told EPA officials that while the agency’s new carbon mandate would not change the earth’s temperature, it would change power bills,” the group said in the statement. “Now, with the final rule made public, we can be even more certain that EPA has presented the American public with a lousy bargain.” 

PACE’s statement echoes concerns from other business groups and some states, which have argued since the plan was first proposed, that it will reduce the electric grid’s reliability and increase electricity costs for businesses and homes. 

“While this rule will do nothing to affect the agency’s climate-change indicators, it holds the strong potential to raise electricity prices, cost American jobs, endanger reliability and make our nation less competitive,” the statement said. “It is critical that our nation’s leaders, particularly the president and the Congress, intervene to limit the damage from this bad rule.”