By Robert Mullin
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Dawn Wilson, director of environmental policy and affairs at Southern California Edison, said the company was disappointed with the Supreme Court’s stay of EPA’s Clean Power Plan in February.
“We are specifically engaged with a coalition of energy sector entities that are engaged in litigation in support of the plan,” she said during a panel discussion on the potential impact of the rule on California and the West at the Infocast California Energy Summit.
Ray Williams, director of long-term energy policy for Pacific Gas and Electric, said his company also supported the EPA plan.
“Basically, we say we’re a utility in the business of assembling a clean portfolio,” Williams said. “This is — from a business perspective — something that is doable.”
Travis Kavulla, vice chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission and president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, brought an inland West perspective to the discussion. Montana’s attorney general joined the lawsuit against the regulations, although the state’s governor and Department of Environmental Quality are preparing for implementation.
Kavulla contended that the Clean Power Plan differs from previous federal air quality regulations by going beyond the “fence line” of the power plant to impose requirements on entire states.
“You have a de facto renewables mandate for the entire nation,” Kavulla said.
Kavulla also pointed out the economic impact of the rule on his state and region.
“Montana, Wyoming and Utah have entire communities built around big central coal stations,” he said. “These are influential but also tied to livelihood. We’re looking to understand what the transition [away from coal] may look like.”
Amber Mahone, director of climate policy analysis at Energy+Environmental Economics, pointed to the other forces working against coal, including regional haze rules and low natural gas prices.
“The writing is on the wall,” Mahone said. “It’s not a question of if — it’s when these plants retire.”
“We have to believe as a society that we won’t unabatedly burn coal,” she said.
