The mineworkers union is gearing up for a major court fight over a suite of Environmental Protection Agency regulations for power plants that it argues threatens the future of the coal industry in the United States.
United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts, in a recent policy speech given in West Virginia, says the coal industry is caught in a spiral of decline, partly because of the use of natural gas as a cheaper alternative to coal. But he said it’s also because of EPA rules that, once fully implemented, would make it nearly impossible to use coal in the future.
“The news hasn’t been good for the coal industry for a few years now,” said Roberts, addressing union members at a meeting of the union in Morgantown. “The sudden surge of natural gas production, much of it right around here, has caused natural gas prices to plunge to a point where, on a cost-per-[British thermal unit] basis, gas is now a cheaper fuel to use to generate electricity than coal.”
The union may not be able to reverse the use of natural gas, but it can do something about EPA’s rules — sue.
Roberts says union lawyers are preparing to file a round of lawsuits against the administration’s climate rules for limiting power plant emissions. The rules are at the center of President Obama’s agenda to face down climate change and reach a deal with major industrial nations later this year in Paris.
Roberts said the union successfully convinced the Supreme Court to take up a prior case opposing EPA’s mercury and air pollutant regulations for coal plants. Those rules went into effect in April, resulting in dozens of coal generators closing their plants or scheduling them to retire in the next few years.
“It has worked its way up to the Supreme Court, but in the meantime many utilities have chosen to shut down coal plants and burn natural gas rather than invest in the pollution controls needed to comply with this rule,” Roberts said. “This has cost thousands of coal miners their jobs in just the last year, including UMWA members.”
The Supreme Court is reviewing the mineworkers’ suit that argues the EPA chose to ignore the economic costs of implementing the regulations, which utilities say cost them billions of dollars to comply with or forced them to shutter older coal plants. The high court is expected to rule before its term ends on June 30.
Meanwhile, the White House Office of Management and Budget is preparing to make final two controversial rules for regulating greenhouse gases from new and existing power plants. The regulations, called the Clean Power Plan for existing power plants and the New Source rule for new power plants, are expected to become law in August after the agency finishes its review. Once that happens, Roberts says the union will sling its next volley of lawsuits against the EPA and the administration.
“We have not, and we will not, stand by while our members’ jobs are under attack from any source, in any administration,” Roberts said. “Under the Obama administration the UMWA sued EPA over the [mercury and air pollutant] rule, and as we stand here today I assure that our lawyers are preparing to sue the agency again once the Clean Power Plan and New Source rule become final,” Roberts said.
The Clean Power Plan regulates emissions from power plants by directing states to develop plans to lower greenhouse gas emissions that have been linked to global warming. States would achieve these goals by using more renewable energy and massive amounts of new gas-fired capacity, along with energy efficiency and coal plant improvements that the industry says is impossible to achieve.
The climate plan has been challenged by 14 states led by West Virginia in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, along with coal giants Peabody and Murray Energy. The mineworkers stayed out of that fight, deciding to become one of the first to sue EPA after the rules are finished.
The states sued ahead of the rule being finalized, raising questions as to whether the court can even act. Judges at the April 16 oral arguments said they were skeptical they could make a ruling before the regulations are finalized. The D.C. Circuit court does not typically rule on a case until it becomes law.
Right now, both the Clean Power Plan and the New Source rule are only proposals.
Critics of the New Source rule say it would make it nearly impossible to build a new coal plant in the U.S. without new technologies that are not commercially available. Lawyers said the New Source rule must be in place before the Clean Power Plan — a much more expansive rule — can be implemented under the Clean Air Act. Both regulations are at OMB undergoing final review.
