President Obama’s ambitious environmental regulatory agenda caused the extinction of 500 more jobs today when Luminant, a Texas-based electric utility, announced they would be idling two generating units and ceasing operations at a coal mine.
Luminant’s actions are a response to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that the Environmental Protection Agency published earlier this summer. Last year the EPA did not include Texas sources in their cross-state emission reduction targets for sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). But this year the Obama EPA is demanding a 47 percent reduction of all sulfur dioxide emissions from Texas, and a 64 percent reduction at two of Luminants power units by January 1st, 2012.
“As always, Luminant is committed to complying fully with EPA regulations. We have spent the last two months identifying all possible options to meet the requirements of this new rule, and we are launching a significant program to reduce emissions across our facilities,” Luminant CEO David Campbell said. “However, meeting this unrealistic deadline also forces us to take steps that will idle facilities and result in the loss of jobs.
Obama has recently been trying to limit the job-losses caused by his environmental regulatory agenda. Earlier this month he ordered the EPA to rescind proposed ozone regulations that, by the EPA’s own estimates, would have cost the U.S. economy $90 billion a year.
But there are still many other proposed EPA regulations that are destined to be job killers. Of the six remaining EPA rules that the Obama administration estimates would cost the economy close to $1 billion a year, the cross-state rule is the least expensive, clocking in at just $0.8 billion annually. The EPA’s Coal Ash Rule (classifying coal combustion residuals) and Boiler MACT Rule (forcing boilers and heaters to use the maximum achievable control technology to limit pollutants like mercury) would inflict annual losses of $20.3 billion and $9.5 billion, respectively, on the economy annually.
