Letter blasts EPA's carbon plan

A letter to the EPA from Sweetwater County blasts the agency for its regional haze policy, claiming action from the EPA has the potential to close the Jim Bridger Power Plant.

The letter, addressed Nov. 25 from Sweetwater County Commissioner Wally Johnson, claims five Wyoming power plants, including the Jim Bridger plant, would need to close for Wyoming to meet the EPA's 19 percent reduction in 2012 carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

Mark Kot, Public Lands Specialist for Sweetwater County, said the five power plant number, originally cited in an October presentation by Alan Minier, chairman of the Wyoming Public Service Commissioner, and Trevor Houser, a partner of the Rhodium Group, gave about the implications of the EPA's clean power plan on Wyoming energy. However, earlier this month, Kot said that number was reduced to four plants, but still includes Jim Bridger.

Johnson's letter argues the potential closure of the plant, as well as the Jim Bridger Coal Company, would impact the county's economy by eliminating 750 mining and plant jobs, as well as threaten 185 positions at the nearby Black Butte Coal Mine.

"As a result of the proposed plan, 935 Sweetwater County employees directly employed in the power generation and coal-mining industries could become unemployed," Johnson's letter states.

Such a closure would, as Johnson argues, have other indirect economic impacts on the county, including impacts to tax revenue generated by the county. The operations around the Bridger plant result in 11 percent of the county's property taxes, impacting services provided by the county and other entities such as Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and the Sweetwater County Library System.

According to the initial presentation by Houser, the Jim Bridger Power Plant would see early retirement in 2039.

The EPA's four building blocks to its lower emissions goal, focus on coal efficiency, switching to natural gas, nuclear power and renewable sources, as well as increasing energy efficiency. Johnson's letter argues the EPA's proposal doesn't consider Wyoming's small population, as well as the relative lack of renewable energy sources and gas-fired power plants.

If the state could negotiate with the EPA, Wyoming could comply with more attainable goals.

"However, without a substantial reduction in the EPA emissions goal, to achieve compliance with the Clean Power Plan, Wyoming may be faced to close many of its coal fire power plants, which would be devastating to national, state and local economies," the letter states.

Johnson's letter also argues that shifting focus away from coal could affect the reliability of the power grid. Johnson wrote coal needs to remain important within the resource mix to maintain reliability during peak energy usage periods.

Citing energy demands during the 2013-2014 winter season, Johnson wrote that the natural gas industry was unable to keep up with demands, resulting in power outages in areas throughout the country.

"If coal were still a larger part of the energy mix, these power outages may not have occurred," Johnson wrote.

While speaking about issue Tuesday afternoon, Johnson said he doesn't believe the Jim Bridger Power Plant will see an early retirement as a result of the EPA's clean energy proposal, but believes the only thing that could save Wyoming's coal industry is an administration change in Washington, D.C. and a change of focus within the EPA after an administration change.

"Politically, that's the only hope we have," Johnson said.

Johnson believes Rocky Mountain Power's $500 million investment in carbon reduction technology for the plant's four units will keep the plant from being retired early.

However, that investment, he said, will probably come out of the pockets of Rocky Mountain Power's customers due to the increased cost of power generation resulting from that investment.

As he stated in the letter, Johnson said the U.S. Forest Service's mismanagement of beetle-killed trees in the national forests result in fires that not only cost millions of dollars to fight, but may cause the regional haze seen in Sweetwater County as a result of wind blowing smoke through the county, as opposed to the county's industry.