Wrong way to go

The average Arkansan probably could not tell you how the electricity we rely on every day at home, work or play is produced. The power company somehow gets it to an outlet, and as long as it keeps coming that’s all we tend to care about.

But the fact is, electricity can only be produced by using another energy source to drive the generators. And in Arkansas, basically half of that fuel to run our power plants is coal; nationwide, 43 percent of power is generated using coal.

For a century now, coal has been the fuel of choice for utilities because there is plenty of it. America has more than two centuries of reserves, making coal our most abundant energy source.

That abundance has kept coal prices stable over time-unlike another generating fuel, natural gas, which is cheap right now but tends to spike up and down over time.

All of this has kept electricity prices in Arkansas stable and relatively low over the decades, and that is a critical factor in our ability to attract and keep businesses in this state.

The stability that coal brings to our energy picture is threatened right now by proposals from the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal for a greenhouse-gas new source performance standard (NSPS) governing new fossil fuel-based power generation.

The EPA wants to require that new coal-fueled power plants meet the same standards as new gas-fired plants. This is unprecedented under the Clean Air Act-and it is certain to prevent construction of new coal plants or the upgrading of existing sources. This could actually block potential greenhouse-gas emissions reductions, endanger our electricity supply and harm our economy.

At the state level, Arkansas officials recently demonstrated their recognition that coal still has a major role to play in the provision of reliable, affordable electricity. Our state has four state-of-the-art coalfired power plants that burn far cleaner than the facilities of just a few years ago, and engineers are laying the foundation for revolutionary advancements in power-plant efficiency and reduced carbon dioxide emission levels.

The 528-megawatt Flint Creek Coal Power Plant in Gentry is the key producer of electricity for Northwest Arkansas. It also is a major employer in that area. The Arkansas Public Service Commission and the state attorney general recently gave permission for Flint Creek to implement a multimillion-dollar retrofit that would comply with existing EPA air-quality standards.

Without this approval, the plant would have closed. That would have meant less reliable and more costly electric power, and jobs losses.

But if EPA presses ahead with its new regulations, even the new scrubbers authorized bystate officials won’t be enough to keep Flint Creek open.

That’s why, right now, political and business leaders from across Arkansas are speaking out, letting President Barack Obama know how vital it is for the economies of Arkansas, and the entire nation, that these harmful new regulations not be enacted.

We will keep up the drumbeat because none of us can afford the damage they would inflict on the availability of reasonably priced electricity to power our homes, offices and factories.

America can have clean air and the low-cost, reliable electricity that coal has helped provide since Thomas Edison first turned on the lights. The EPA must rethink its approach and give us all a chance to achieve that goal.

Randy Zook is president and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce. He previously was deputy director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.