Lobbying Effort Underway to Shape New Power Plant Rule

An intense lobbying fight is already shaping up around the Obama administration's proposed rule on curbing carbon emissions from existing power plants, as U.S. EPA prepares for a protracted battle over the plan.

Competing efforts are underway to influence the agency's final version of the rule, which was released yesterday and includes a wide range of greenhouse gas reduction targets for states. Overall, the rule would cut emissions from power plants by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

"The EPA will be heavily lobbied on all fronts on this issue," said Robert Keough, a spokesman for the advocacy group Advanced Energy Economy. The fossil fuel sector is "going to go all out to try and weaken the final rule," he said.

Opponents are especially unhappy with the rule's "beyond the fence line" approach, which would allow EPA to set statewide standards instead of emission targets for individual power plants.

Industry groups said they plan to take their fight to the states, where legislatures have flexibility under the proposed rule to decide how to cut down on pollution.

"We'll be working with the states to educate them about the rule and its potential negative consequences" in the months to come, said American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity spokeswoman Laura Shaheen. "We've been ready for this for some time."

The battle lines were drawn even before EPA rolled out its long-awaited proposal, which serves as a centerpiece of President Obama's Climate Action Plan. EPA was the second most lobbied federal agency in the first quarter of 2014, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Last month, officials from EPA and the White House Office of Management and Budget met with environmental organizations as well as with the Lignite Energy Council, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity and other industry groups to discuss the rule, records show.

The White House also met in May with environmental organizations that have long called for a cap on pollution from power plants. Many green groups pushed for a standard based on the country's 2012 pollution levels, which were lower than near-peak emissions in 2005, and plan to continue pressing EPA for stricter regulations.

Yet despite these differences, environmental groups said they plan to defend the rule from attacks from the right.

Environment America said it would mail 1.1 million letters to residents in 20 states urging them to comment on the proposal. EPA will hold an 120-day comment period after publishing the draft rule.

"The polluters who are profiting from pollution aren't going to want to clean up their acts," said Anna Aurilio, the director of the group's Washington, D.C., office. "We'll be sending the message to EPA that we want the strongest possible rule around this."

At the same time, the EPA and states will also face pressure from renewable energy and natural gas interests, two sectors that stand to benefit from the closure of coal-fired power plants.

"We'll be filing comments and talking to members of the administration and others as the process moves forward" in order to put "natural gas in the best light," said Dan Whitten, a spokesman for America's Natural Gas Alliance.

Experts said it's too early to say how these efforts will pan out. Supporters and opponents of the rule will spend the coming days digging through the proposal's 600-plus pages, said Eileen Claussen, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

"It's probably as complex a rule as EPA has ever done," said Claussen, a former director of the agency's Office of Atmospheric Programs. "A lot of work still has to be done and will continue until the last day of the comment period."

Daniel Bush, E&E reporter

Republished from E&ENews PM with permission. E&ENews PM is a late afternoon roundup providing coverage of all the breaking and developing policy news from Capitol Hill, around the country and around the world. Click here for a free trial

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