U.S., Global Energy Plans Have Way To Go Toward Achievement

 

 

By Michael Bradwell

 

May 18, 2016 - Was the recent formal signing of the Paris Accord on climate change the shot heard around the world for the fossil fuel industry?

An attorney studying the agreement said Tuesday she believes the United States will follow through on its commitment to the international agreement, but questioned whether it would be possible to replace the role fossil fuels – coal and natural gas – play in powering the nation and other parts of the world.

Allyn Turner, an attorney with Steptoe & Johnson, spoke during the annual meeting of North American Coalbed Methane Forum at Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe.

The group represents an industry that extracts methane from coalbed seams, particularly in advance of mines being prepared for longwall operations as a measure of safety as well as an opportunity to make some money selling methane of pipeline quality.

Turner, whose experience includes stints at West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and the water division of Environmental Protection Agency, told about 60 NACBM members she subscribes to the U.S. energy choice model of “all of the above,” which includes fossil fuels, renewables and nuclear.

In December, 195 countries adopted the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius. In the agreement, formally signed last month by more than 155 countries, governments agreed on the need for global emissions of greenhouse gases to peak as soon as possible and to undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science.

Prior to the accord, more than 180 countries, including the United States, made public their plans for carbon emission reductions.

Turner said the accord represents a shift in global energy markets away from fossil fuels.

“Our country’s going to follow through” with its commitment to the accord, she said, noting President Obama’s Clean Energy Plan that sets goals for reducing harmful emissions from new, modified and reconstructed fossil fuel power plants.

She noted the Obama administration Thursday issued a final rule that would reduce methane emissions from oil and gas drilling by 40 to 45 percent by 2025, compared to 2012 levels, a measure that by EPA estimates would cost the industry about $530 million, but would create $690 million in benefits in reduced health care costs.

The methane rule followed a landmark regulation Obama finalized in 2015 to cut carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants by 32 percent.

But Turner noted the earlier rule, which was challenged by a dozen energy states led by West Virginia, was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court, pending the outcome of litigation.

Hearings, originally scheduled for June, were moved to September.

The court’s decision could alter how states decide to respond to the rule, which requires each state to either file a final plan with the EPA or submit a partial plan with the agency and ask for a two-year extension.

“States are all over the map on how they’ll respond,” Turner said.

She added her experience in working with the federal agency is it will probably prevail with the rule, even if the court sides with the states.

“Even if the EPA loses, things are already in motion,” she said, adding, “It’s a pattern and practice of the EPA toward regulation.”

She showed a chart of calculations made by an independent firm showing if the carbon reduction rule passes, it would raise West Virginia electric rates by 20 percent and Pennsylvania’s by 10 percent.

Beyond the plan

Looking beyond the Clean Power Plan, Turner questioned how politics would play into achieving the goals of the Paris Accord.

“At least for the current election cycle, there are clearly divergent views” on fossil fuels, she said, adding it isn’t clear whether the accord can achieve a world where the majority of fuel comes from renewable sources.

“We don’t have renewables at the point to where they can fill the demand void” created by the removal of fossil fuels from the energy mix, she said.

While Turner declined to take a political stand on the global or U.S. regulations, the speaker preceding her minced no words about politics.

Keynote speaker Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association, provided a variety of statistics that showed the decline of the state’s coal industry since the Clean Power Plan went into effect.

He noted in 2008, the state was producing 165 million tons of coal each year; that went to 130 million tons of output two years later, when 3,200 miners were laid off.

By 2015, Hamilton said, annual coal output was around 100 million tons, while at the same time, 18 coal-fired generation plants were shut down, along with 40 in Pennsylvania and another 20 to 30 in Ohio.

He projected West Virginia’s coal output would fall to between 80 and 85 million tons this year.

“It’s all about who’s in charge and the public policy that they implement,” Hamilton told the group.

“We need a national energy policy that recognizes natural resources as an asset, not a liability. 

 

“We can’t stand another president that attempts to expand a Democrat energy plan.”