EPA Reg Shutters FOUR TIMES As Much Coal Power As Agency Initially Predicted

[SZonian]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) initial projections on coal power vastly underestimated how much coal-fired power would be shuttered by its mercury regulation, according to federal data.

Actual capacity retirements from coal-fired power plants were more than four times greater than EPA initially projected. Newly-released Energy Department data shows 20 gigawatts of coal power have retired, compared to the 4.7 gigawatts projected by EPA.

“Coal-fired generating capacity in the United States dropped from 299 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2014 to 276 GW as of April 2016,” according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EIA attributed coal’s demise “to a mix of competitive pressure from low natural gas prices and the costs and technical challenges of environmental compliance measures.”

EPA’s mercury regulation, called MATS, is one of the most contentious and costly rules ever imposed under the Clean Air Act. The coal industry claimed MATS would force power plants to close down, but EPA said only a fraction would close and these would be outweighed by the public health benefits.

[excerpted]

http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/07/epa-reg-shutters-four-times-as-much-coal-power-as-agency-initially-predicted/

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I believe that on the the amount of 'taking' of constitutional property rights by the EPA such as ownership and enjoyment of minerals by companies and individuals, the subversion by the federal govt of states' interests in gaining revenue from them, that the time may be right to take head-on constitutionality of these actions.

There is a limit on what the Constitution allows for the Congress and Executive to do, and what the EPA practices now is far outside the boundaries of what any reasonable court would find constitutional.