Trump Takes Credit For Utility Steadfastness On Closing Coal Plants

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Here we are again, discussing the future of coal – this time as it relates to CO2 emissions and the fact that emissions have fallen in the United States. And as usual, President Trump finds himself in the middle trying to take credit.

So here is what’s really happening.

Despite having pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord, a report from the Environmental Protection Agency (as reported by Reuters) suggests that CO2 levels have fallen in the United States by 2.7% in 2017, even more than the 2% it fell in 2016.

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Interim EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler took the opportunity to crow about how the extra 0.7% was the result of the excellent Trump policies on the environment. As he said in a press release:

“Thanks to President Trump’s regulatory reform agenda, the economy is booming, energy production is surging, and we are reducing greenhouse gas emissions from major industrial sources.”

Which is a nice narrative, particularly if you’re hellbent on removing all environmental protections as EPA administrator. But here’s where the story falls apart just a little bit.

As we (and every other solar publication) had reported, U.S. utilities have not slowed down their plans to close coal plants, and they are only accelerating those plans as the years move forward. In part, that’s because they can replace these fossil fuel plants with clean, renewable energy like solar and wind.

As Reuters susses out, that’s the real reason for the additional reductions in greenhouse gases:

While Wheeler gave the administration credit for the reductions, which mainly came from the power sector, the numbers also underscore that the administration has not been able to stop the rapid pace of coal plant shutdowns … Natural gas releases far less carbon dioxide when burned than coal and a domestic abundance of gas has driven a wave of closures of coal plants. In 2017 utilities shut or converted from coal-to-gas nearly 9,000 megawatts (MW) of coal plants.

Now, it’s important to note that an unexpected drop in carbon emissions from the United States is still a good thing, and kudos to the utilities who have already recognized that the age of fossil fuels is rapidly fading.

But it does stick in the craw a little bit when the administration that’s taking credit for it is still running around talking about “beautiful, clean coal” and other pro-coal nonsensical blather. Let’s give credit where credit is due and not where it is not.

(It should also be noted that the Trump administration, for all its crowing, may finally be recognizing the futility of keeping uneconomic coal plants open.)

More:

U.S. greenhouse emissions fell in 2017 as coal plants shut

ACC Insider Dealing Throws Shade on Arizona Solar Market

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The invaluable Ryan Randazzo at AZCentral.com revealed today that the executive director of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), which oversees public utilities in the state, has had to resign because his wife worked for the lobbying firm that represents – wait for it – the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service.

Although there is no evidence of direct influence, the scent of conflicted interests surrounding Executive Director Tom Vogt was so strong that he resigned ahead of an emergency meeting the commissioners had called to discuss whether he had in fact violated state law by not disclosing his wife’s job.

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Vogt was a strange choice as executive director when he joined the commission in January 2017. As I wrote at the time for pv magazine, his resume was pretty thin:

Vogt’s resume is longer, but his energy experience is even thinner than Forese’s. After a five-year career as an investment banker, Vogt entered the Air Force as an intelligence officer and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He then joined then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s staff as a daily intelligence briefer.

Vogt served three years as an Arizona representative and led the state’s Department of Veterans’ Services before Monday’s appointment. His most notable legislative achievements focused on veterans’ issues and not on energy. He is also a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative policy shop whose anti-solar stances are legendary.

Given the information Randazzo uncovered, is it really any surprise that the solar industry in, mind you, a state with the highest insolation rates in the country is struggling? Vogt is not the first commissioner to have ties to APS, and APS has not been shy about spreading its money around in commissioner races in the past. It’s nice to see some accountability finally being put in place for these conflicts, but Vogt isn’t the only compromised member of the commission. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the long run.

It should also be noted that Vogt’s resignation comes shortly after Commissioner Andy Tobin put forth a proposal to raise Arizona’s RPS to 80% by 2050 to counter a proposal by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer to raise the RPS to 50% by 2030.

The difference between the two proposals is that Tobin’s is significantly more friendly to APS than Steyer’s plan, in that it considers nuclear power to be “clean energy.” APS currently owns two nuclear plants in the state and is the only utility to do so.

More:

Solar neophytes join ACC as its new leaders

Arizona Regulator Wants To Get Ahead Of The Voters (And That May Be OK)

Scott Pruitt Out At EPA; Former Coal Lobbyist To Step In For Now

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

There’s always a creative tension about covering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a solar reporter. On the one hand, they don’t have anything directly to do with energy policy, so some solar reporters feel it’s not worth covering.

On the other hand, as a solar reporter, it’s impossible to completely separate the environment and the Solar Revolution, since one of solar’s biggest selling points is that it helps reduce greenhouse gases and thereby helps the environment. Therefore, policy set by the EPA can have an indirect effect on the solar industry whether it wants it to or not.

But sometimes there’s a news story so big you have to cover it no matter what, and such is this afternoon’s news that the scandal-plagued EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has resigned one step ahead of the law. And his replacement at the agency, on at least an interim basis, is former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler.

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This, as you might imagine, is not good news.

As the Department of Energy hatches plans to bailout failing coal and nuclear plants, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to see Wheeler finish the job Pruitt so clearly had started. Both men savor the idea of eviscerating any environmental protection regulations currently in place, and Wheeler may have an added incentive – in the form of his former coal colleagues calling him on the phone – to finish slashing regulations on coal mines faster than ever before.

Here’s where things get particularly ugly for the solar industry: Though Wheeler is only the interim EPA chief, he can hold the post for up to seven months under the Vacancies Reform Act because his appointment to the agency has already been confirmed by the Senate. And 210 days is plenty of time for Wheeler to work in concert with Secretary of Energy to finish the coal/nuclear bailout plan and give coal its time in the … sun … again.

Oy vey.