GOP lawmaker proposes tax credit for coal plants

[DonViejo]

Source: The Hill




BY TIMOTHY CAMA - 03/14/18 03:58 PM EDT

A Republican lawmaker is proposing a tax credit that would subsidize the operation of coal-fired power plants.

Rep. Larry Bucshon’s (R-Ind.) bill, the Electricity Reliability and Fuel Security Act, seeks to stem the tide of hundreds of recent coal plant closures — an issue driven primarily by economic concerns and environmental regulations.

“Without the reliable baseload power provided by coal-fired generation, the power grid may not be able to handle the electricity needs of American consumers during a sustained period of peak demand like 2014’s Polar Vortex or the recent Bomb Cyclone,” Bucshon said in a Wednesday statement announcing the bill.

“It is critical that we ensure our nation enjoys a reliable and resilient grid, and that consumers continue to have access to affordable and reliable electricity,” he said. “The Electricity Reliability and Fuel Security Act will help achieve this by leveling the playing field and help avoid more coal-fired power plant retirements while Congress, the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, grid operators, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation continue working together to ensure that the nation’s electricity grid is both reliable and resilient.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/378438-gop-lawmaker-proposes-tax-credit-for-coal-plants

[Angry Dragon]

1. Seems like welfare to me..........oh corporatioons

[TranssexualKaren]

5. Surely, youre too charitable....

It’s communism for the rich, period stop. The Soviet Union use to maintain factories that only produced left shoes just to keep everyone employed....this is far worse!!!

[wishstar]

2. Too late as the closures, environmental cleanups and conversions to natural gas are too far along

Railroads that have hauled coal for decades have already eliminated routes or finalized plans to eliminate routes

[SergeStorms]

10. They've turned the coal cars....

into plowshares.

[VMA131Marine]

3. The DOE completed a research report last year that debunks this whole premise

The grid can be baseloaded with natural gas and nuclear anyway. Gas is cheaper than coal and the plants themselves are far more reliable.

[paleotn]

4. But...but...but....

What about the invisible hand?! I thought those guys loved market driven economics. I thought any government intervention was anathema to their core beliefs? Could I be wrong?


Hypocrites.

[yonder]

8. Effin' hypocrites, I'll add.

You beat me to it. Invisible hand of the marketplace, keep gub-mint out of it, my ass.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Aw, he wants the entire country to look like Gary, IN in the 1970s.

[Egnever]

7. So now we will subsidize the destruction of our planet.

Cool!

[SergeStorms]

9. And subsidize my buggy-whip factory too, I hope!

There's nothing like a good buggy-whip. Nothing!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

11. Capitalize profits, socialize losses.

Free trade at work.

[blugbox]

12. So, they want us to have "affordable" electricity...

and we do that shovelling money into a "dieing" technology that COSTS money to keep operating... Got it.