Emissions reduction minimal, costly for Montana
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As I review the Obama Administration’s proposed rules for carbon reduction under the Clean Power Plan, I have discovered some interesting details.
The proposed rules require states to come up with plans to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants by 30 percent by 2017. Since Montana has one of the largest coal-fired generation plants, Colstrip Units 1, 2, 3 and 4, the Federal Government’s goal for Montana is a 47 percent reduction by 2030, the largest reduction for any state. If a state does not come up with an effective implementation plan, the EPA can impose a federal plan.
Colstrip is owned by several utility companies, including NorthWestern Energy, who provides power to 354,000 Montana customers. NorthWestern Energy owns 30 percent of Unit 4, which is one of the newer, more efficient units and provides 25 percent of the power NorthWestern Energy serves to its Montana customers. The balance of the power generated at Colstrip produces electricity sold by utilities in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
A study prepared by University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research found that compliance with a plan to reduce emissions by 47 percent could mean the closure of Colstrip. What impact could this have on Montana? The study suggests Montana would lose 7,100 jobs, $500 million in lost annual income to Montana residents, $1.5 billion in gross sales by Montana businesses, double-digit power rate increase for customers, population loss due to job loss and $145 million in lost taxes per year to Montana’s state and local governments.
How would the EPA’s rules help worldwide reduction in carbon emissions? According to the EPA’s own estimates, the plan would only reduce worldwide carbon emission by .002 percent to .004 percent. How does that compare to carbon and other pollutants omitted into our atmosphere by forest fires? During 2015 Montana wildfires puts more particulate emissions into the air than all four coal-fired power plants at Colstrip could in over 1,000 years.
It would seem to me that we should spend more of our time and money on doing a better job managing our forest and reducing forest fires. The payoff would be much greater.
What is Montana doing? Montana’s Attorney General, Tim Fox, has filed suit against the EPA along with 23 other states to stop the proposed rules. Most recently, the U.S. Supreme court put a stay on these rules to allow time for the suit to work through the court system. These rules will be very costly to our state and our ratepayers, and will result in little, if any, improvement in worldwide carbon emissions.
