Chamber: EPA's plan risk to jobs

Meeting the clean-air standards proposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency will drive up electricity prices and reduce jobs in Arkansas, a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Thursday.

The state's electric rates are among the lowest in the nation because of the diversity of Arkansas electric generating plants, which operate on coal, natural gas, nuclear power and hydroelectric power, said Dan Byers, senior director for policy with the U.S. Chamber. He spoke to a group of utility executives, environmentalists and others at the office of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. The group first met in June.

Despite the diversity of electricity sources, Arkansas faces the fifth-steepest rate of required reduction in carbon emissions proposed in June by the EPA. The EPA sought a nationwide reduction of 30 percent in carbon emissions by 2030. Arkansas, however, is targeted to reduce its carbon emissions by 41 percent by 2020.

In addition, the proposals require Arkansas to reduce carbon emissions by 44 percent by 2030, Byers said.

"Those are huge changes coming quickly," Byers said.

Duane Highley, CEO of the Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Corp., said the changes will costs his utility, which serves about a third of Arkansans, $74 million a year by 2020 and $184 million a year by 2030.

But it is important to recognize the price that Arkansans already are paying because of high carbon emissions in the state, said Al Armendariz, a senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

Carbon emissions causing climate change cost Americans an average of $300 per person each year for federal disaster relief for flooding and for federal crop relief when farmers are unable to grow crops, Armendariz said.

"We think when you look at dealing with climate change, the state of Arkansas is in a really good position to grow its economy, create local jobs and help the country deal with climate disaster," Armendariz said.

One EPA proposal suggests that two coal plants in Arkansas may shut down to help meet the environmental standards, Armendariz said. Those two are Entergy Arkansas' White Bluff plant near Redfield and Entergy's Independence County plant near Newark, the two largest coal plants in the state and two of the oldest.

Entergy was not familiar with any proposal that would lead to closing the two large coal plants, a company spokesman said.

The group is not trying to reach a consensus among its members on how to meet the EPA standards, said Teresa Marks, director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. Instead, its goal is to discover what works best in Arkansas to meet the government's proposed rules, she said.

Business on 08/29/2014

Upcoming Events