Gov. Mark Gordon has promised to sue over a new suite of federal rules that most observers agree will hasten the U.S. thermal coal industry’s trajectory toward extinction — an existential threat to many Wyoming communities and one of the state’s main economic drivers.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday issued four “final” rules aimed at drastically cutting coal pollution, including a mandate that existing coal-fired power plants cut or capture 90% of their planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions by 2032 or convert to natural gas or close altogether. The agency’s other rules set timelines for significant cuts to smokestack emissions of mercury and other toxic metals, polluted wastewater from coal power plants and more stringent standards for coal ash disposal.
The “power plant” rules make good on President Joe Biden’s promise to address human-caused climate change, according to the EPA. The actions are also intended to help curtail illness and premature deaths from coal pollution while providing a clear regulatory framework for utilities to shift to renewable sources of energy.
The agency also noted that it consulted with coal-reliant utilities about their existing plans regarding coal facilities and crafted the implementation schedules to allow for planning that avoids electrical power supply issues.
“By developing these standards in a clear, transparent, inclusive manner, EPA is cutting pollution while ensuring that power companies can make smart investments and continue to deliver reliable electricity for all Americans,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a prepared statement.
Coal proponents in Wyoming are furious.
While the rules target coal-fueled power plants, they also put Wyoming coal mines on notice: Their already waning U.S. customer base has an expiration date.
“It is clear the only goal envisioned by these rules released by the Environmental Protection Agency today is the end of coal communities in Wyoming,” Gordon said in a prepared statement Thursday. “EPA has weaponized the fear of climate change into a crushing set of rules that will result in an unreliable electric grid, unaffordable electricity and thousands of lost jobs.”
The Wyoming Mining Association also discounted climate change as an excuse to attack the coal industry.
“Wyoming is once again the sacrificial lamb on the altar of the climate change cult,” the association’s Executive Director Travis Deti said.
The rules
The carbon dioxide emissions rule applies to coal-fired power plants as well as new natural gas-fired facilities, requiring them to prevent at least 90% of greenhouse gasses from entering the atmosphere.
“EPA has weaponized the fear of climate change into a crushing set of rules that will result in an unreliable electric grid, unaffordable electricity and thousands of lost jobs.”
Gov. Mark Gordon
“Existing coal-fired power plants are the largest source of [greenhouse gas] from the power sector,” the EPA stated in the rule. “New natural gas-fired combustion turbines are some of the largest new sources of [greenhouse gas] being built today, and these final standards will ensure that they are constructed to minimize their [greenhouse gas] emissions.”
The rule updating Mercury and Air Toxics Standards tightens emissions by about 70%, an especially significant reduction for plants that burn lignite — a lower-value coal than Wyoming’s subbituminous product — according to the agency.
Coal-fueled power plants will also be required to reduce various “pollutants” associated with wastewater by more than 660 million pounds annually, and follow more stringent standards to prevent leaks at coal-ash storage facilities.
Implications for Wyoming
Wyoming remains the nation’s largest coal producer, although production has plummeted by nearly half since 2008, with companies shipping some 237 million tons in 2023, according to the Wyoming State Geological Survey. More than 90% of coal mined in the state is sold to power plants in the U.S., which is why it’s often referred to as “thermal coal” — unlike “metallurgic coal” that is sold to steel manufacturers.
Coal mining contributed some $650 million in taxes, royalties and fees to the state in 2019 and employed more than 5,000 workers, according to the Wyoming Mining Association.
The vast majority of coal mining occurs in the Powder River Basin in the northeast corner of the state, while several communities host nearby coal-fired power plants: Gillette, Glenrock, Wheatland, Kemmerer and Rock Springs.
Although Wyoming has experienced declines in both coal production and coal-fired power, the industry still serves as a major economic backbone for the state — and a significant source of government revenue. The potential loss of coal-fired power facilities is an especially daunting prospect for nearby communities.
Those communities have wrestled with the knowledge of potential plant closures for a long time already, and the EPA’s new rules only serve to clarify that potential reality, said Robert Godby, associate professor at the University of Wyoming’s Economics Department.
“It really just kind of steepens the glide path to what we all knew was happening anyway,” he told WyoFile on Friday.
The new rules are likely to be challenged in court, not only by Wyoming, but also by other coal-reliant states, Godby said. Politics will also continue to play a role — particularly if a Republican wins the presidential election this year. He noted, however, that former President Donald Trump was not able to make good on a promise to turn around the coal industry’s decline.
Regardless, utilities are under increasing pressure to make long-term investment decisions in a quickly changing energy environment, and the EPA’s actions this week diminish the likelihood that they’ll find the regulatory certainty needed to invest in coal-fueled power.
“It makes it more likely they’re going to retire [coal plants] and announce firm dates,” Godby said. “That’s going to create more certainty for the communities that are affected.”
Meantime, Gordon, who has touted technologies to reduce carbon dioxide from coal power plants, has vowed to fight the rules.
“These rules are a travesty, and their effects are devastating,” Gordon said. “I have directed the Wyoming Attorney General to engage with and lead a coalition of states to challenge the power plant emissions rule, and we are prepared to apply our litigation strategy to the oncoming wave of federal regulatory actions that threaten Wyoming.”
Well, instead of funding education, allowing parents & librarians to decide what books should be read by children our governor has decided to waste money on suing the EPA. More money down the rabbit hole as our kids don’t a summer lunch, or their education funded properly. Professionals should be helping make medical, educational and environmental decisions. We are being controlled by a national agenda that doesn’t really apply to WY. A few LOUD & often Rude folks putting restriction on the majority. Interesting twist on Freedom. Lorraine
Exactly!
Technology has existed for 50 plus years to capture/inject exhaust gases underground and should have been used to do so. Not that expensive to do so
P.S. – every gallon of gasoline we burn in our coupes, SUV’s , and big porcine pickup trucks sends 20 pounds of CO2 out the tailpipe. The requisite catalytic converter in the exhaust train does nothing to stop it. Keep that in mind.
Dewey. I will cut back JUST AS SOON as the government stops funding these wars all over the world. It very puzzling not a one of the climate control or global warming geeks will say one PEEP About the planes/artillery/missiles emissions. UN says there is 2 BILLION tons of concrete rubble in Ukraine alone. All contaminated with Asbestos by the way. It is used in all the concrete mix there. Gaza has half as much rubble. Estimated to take 14 years to clear. But not one PEEP about that out of likes of you.
The 45-year graph of Wyoming coal production is instructive. It reveals the paradox of opposing federal air pollution regulations even as those regulations have delivered immense economic benefits to the state. The initial rise in Wyoming coal production coincides with passage of the 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act, which put a premium on low-sulfur Powder River Basin coal to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from power plants. Without this premium, the low heating value and high transportation costs would have inhibited growth in the state’s coal exports. The graph also shows an inflection point where Wyoming coal production increased at a steeper rate after passage of the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act led to dramatic, market-trading-based reductions in sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. At present, Wyoming’s renewable energy and uranium resources stand to benefit from the new EPA rule just as the coal industry benefited from the old rule. And if Wyoming’s leaders really believe in the viability of carbon capture from coal plants, as they profess to do, then the carbon capture and storage industry will benefit as well.
When Guv Gordo and the Wyoming carboneers start waving their arms in the air, shouting that Biden’s EPA ” has weaponized the fear of climate change with a crushing set of rules” , they have already lost the debate. Not only that , fossil fuel fearmongering is symptomatic of a severe case of psychological denial of reality, a paranoid delusional schizophrenia
Wyoming can’t force the world market to buy and use coal without preventing CO2 and other emissions . Any notion that Sub-bituminous coal can be burned cleanly and affordably is a fantasy. The laws of thermodynamics and physical chemistry can be bent a little, but never broken.
I hate to say it, but the EPA and Team Biden are right about all this. Kicking that dying horse horse named King Coal with steel toed cowboy boots is futile. GuvGordo and the Carbon Cabal simply need to quit arguing about Powder River coal using strictly economic dollar terms. The money doesn’t matter in the end. Wyoming is on the wrong side of the problem. It’s a crime against humanity to force coal. That is far from a revelation . I’ve been saying so for 25 years already . QED
Gov. Mark Gordon is right to question aspects of EPA’s latest rules regarding coal-fired electrical power plants. It’s a big part of his job to see that Wyoming’s economy remains healthy. But Gordon and the rest of the state’s governmental and political movers and shakers need to spend more time seriously looking for ways to diversify Wyoming’s economy than they devote to ranting about government rules.