Recently, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Mark Christie responded to questions from the leadership of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee regarding his testimony to the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and Grid Security regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan 2.0 (CPP 2.0). Commissioner Christie’s answers emphasized the severe risks posed by the rule, which would force the retirement of coal plants that are essential for grid reliability. Highlighted below are a few excerpts from his responses to the committee’s questions:
Impact of CPP 2.0 –
“If the EPA’s new power plant rule survives court challenge, it will force the retirements of nearly all remaining coal generation plants and will prevent the construction of vitally needed new combined-cycle baseload gas generation. This loss of vitally needed dispatchable generation resources will be catastrophic.”
EPA’s response to FERC concerns about CPP 2.0 –
Twice in November “I raised with [EPA] my serious concern that their proposed regulations would have a very damaging impact on grid reliability by forcing the premature retirements of vitally needed dispatchable generation units and preventing the construction of sufficient new dispatchable resources.”
“… it is clear from EPA’s final rule that they [referring to communications between EPA and FERC] had little if any practical weight … as EPA apparently dismissed any serious concerns it heard from FERC staff …”
EPA’s attempt to address reliability concerns –
“The so-called ‘reliability assurance mechanism’ in the final rule … will not materially alleviate the fundamental threats to reliability the rule will cause.”
FERC’s ability to prevent electricity shortages caused by retirements –
“The reality is that if the grid has a serious shortfall in power generation resources because necessary resources have retired prematurely, FERC cannot simply order them back onto the grid. Once these needed resources retire, they are gone.”
DOE’s authority to waive compliance with CPP 2.0 to prevent reliability problems –
“The fundamental threat to reliability is the premature retirements of necessary resources. Waivers of only 90 days [allowed by the Federal Power Act] from the federal regulations causing their retirement will not remotely solve the core problem. Only permanent waivers from such regulations would have any appreciable impact, and only if these waivers are granted before the generation units announce retirement so generators can obtain financing to continue operating.”
America’s Power commends Commissioner Christie for continuing to call attention to the risks posed by the EPA’s CPP 2.0 to electric reliability. Read Commissioner Christie’s letter at https://americaspower.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Christie-Letter-1.pdf