Rick Perry and Bob Murray Renew Conservative Call to Subsidize Coal

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Conservative rancor toward the free market in energy systems was on full display this week, as both Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and coal magnate Robert Murray made loud, unapologetic calls to subsidize coal-fired powerย plants.

โ€œWe donโ€™t have a free market in the [electricity] industry, and Iโ€™m not sure you want one,โ€ Perry said Monday at the BNEF Future of Energyย Summit.

Speaking on Tuesday, Murray, CEO of the country’s largest underground mining company, said that Perry โ€œhas to approveโ€ an emergency bailout for coal and nuclear plants in order to โ€œensure the resilience, reliability, and security of theย grid.โ€

Emboldened by President Trumpโ€™s promises to โ€œsave the coal industry,โ€ conservatives who have long argued against subsidies for solar and wind power have a newfound desire for the federal government to pick winners in energy systems, as a growing number of coal plants become uneconomic and closeย down.

Murray, for instance, wants the DOE to approve an emergency order, under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, which allows the federal government to intervene in energy markets in times of electricity reliability emergencies, though itโ€™s only ever been used historically in times of war or sudden resourceย shortage.

Despite the lack of historic precedent, Murray said, โ€œis the only option right now โ€ฆ itโ€™s absolutelyย needed.โ€

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry Thinks Free Energy Markets Areย ‘Nonsense’

Perry told the room full of energy industry professionals and analysts that the government has always been involved in the energy markets, and always willย be.

โ€œItโ€™s nonsense that thereโ€™s a beautiful free market in the power industry,โ€ Perry said. Whatโ€™s the good of a free market, he asked, โ€œif when you flip the switch the electricity doesnโ€™t turnย on.โ€

To avoid that fate and ensure reliability, Perry argued, nuclear and coal areย key.

โ€œWeโ€™re going to have nuclear plants, weโ€™re going to have coal plants, weโ€™re going to have gas plants, weโ€™re going to have renewables, weโ€™re going to have hydro,โ€ Perry said. โ€œWeโ€™re going to have an all of the above energy policy in this country so we know that no matter what we get faced with, weโ€™re going to have as many resources available as we can to feed that grid so that when the demand is put on it, itโ€™s there to meetย it.โ€

Of the emergency order, Perry said itโ€™s being considered, but might not be the only way to prop up failing coal and nuclearย plants.

โ€œThe 202(c) may not be the way that we decide is the most appropriate โ€” the most efficient way to address this,โ€ he said. โ€œIt is not the onlyย play.โ€

Murray Warns that Grandmothers Will Die if Coal Doesnโ€™t Get aย Bailout

While repeatedly blaming President Obama for killing the coal industry through โ€œexcess regulation, much of it illegal,โ€ Murray made an impassioned plea to save coal, warning that the electric grid was โ€œdangerously closeโ€ toย โ€œcollapse.โ€

Using the recent โ€œbomb cycloneโ€ and the 2014 polar vortex as case studies over and over again, Murray argued that โ€œnothing was more resilient to keep the lights on thanย coal.โ€

If not for coal, Murray said, โ€œthe grid would have collapsed here in Newย York.โ€

โ€œWe have a responsibility in this room to make sure grandma doesnโ€™t die on the operating table,โ€ Murray said to the summit guests. โ€œThatโ€™s a crude way of putting it, but we were very close to it during this polar vortex and during this bombย cyclone.โ€

Murray claimed that he wanted to see all forms of energy flourish, including renewables, but took repeated swipes at most others, including natural gas. โ€œYou must have reliable, resilient power grid,โ€ Murray said. โ€œAnd there are only two types of baseload generation: nuclear and coal.ย  You canโ€™t store wind, canโ€™t store solar, canโ€™t store natural gas at powerย plants.โ€

โ€œWill we have to have a system collapse before we really recognize that something has to be done about the security, resilience and reliability of the power grid?โ€ heย added.

Murray Already Has Perryโ€™sย Ear

Last March, Murray met with โ€”ย and huggedย โ€” Perry to discuss his proposed bailout for coal plants, a meeting that was made public by a DOE whistleblower who was later fired. Murray denied drafting the bailout plan that Perryโ€™s DOE later sent to FERC, but this claim that he โ€œhad nothing to do with itโ€ was contradicted by photos and an article published in In These Times, which proved that Murray presented โ€œa proposal to alter the policies of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to favor coal plants, as a way to increase โ€˜gridย reliability.โ€™โ€

The Grid Resilience Pricing Rule proposed by the DOE in September echoed Murrayโ€™s proposal, and some language looks to have been barely altered. The rule included special payments to power plants that could keep 90 days worth of fuel reserves on site, an arbitrary criteria that only coal and nuclear facilities wouldย meet.

Ultimately, FERC โ€” four of the five commissioners being Trump appointees โ€” would unanimously reject the DOEโ€™s proposed rule, a stinging blow to both Perry andย Murray.

With those hopes for a bailout dashed, Murray is now putting his energy behind the emergency order described above and the EPA de-listing carbon dioxide as aย pollutant.

Perry was ambivalent about the emergency order, which, again, Murray called โ€œthe only optionโ€ left. Former FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell, an appointee of President George W. Bush, blasted the prospect of a bailout in the form of an emergencyย order.ย ย 

โ€œI think itโ€™s a tragedy for a capitalist society,โ€ Brownell said at the BNEF summit. โ€œI think itโ€™s a tragedy for energy markets, and itโ€™s a real tragedy for ratepayers, who, by the way, have paid for these plants over the course of their lifetime, and again for strandedย costs.โ€

Will Murrayโ€™s Ally Andrew Wheeler Take on the Endangerment Finding at EPA?

Murrayโ€™s other hail mary for the coal industry is for the EPA to โ€œeliminate the endangerment findingโ€ that is the scientific foundation of the Clean Power Plan. President Trump has already promised to repeal Obamaโ€™s signature climate change program, but the endangerment finding โ€” a 2009 determination that carbon dioxide pollution causes climate change and poses a threat to public healthโ€”stands in the way of any complete and legal repeal of the Clean Powerย Plan.

This week, Andrew Wheeler is poised for confirmation to serve as the EPAโ€™s deputy director, the agencyโ€™s second highest ranking position. This would put Wheeler next in line to lead EPA if current Administrator Scott Pruitt is forced to resign or is fired due to his countless ethics controversies.

Wheeler worked as Murray Energyโ€™s top lobbyist in Washington DC from 2009 to 2017, and as a longtime outspoken climate denier has criticized the endangerment finding in theย past.ย 

According to a Huffington Post article on Wheelerโ€™s confirmation hearings in February, โ€œWheeler could be the man to lead [the] assaultโ€ on the endangermentย finding.

In March 2010, he accused the IPCC of blurring โ€œthe lines between science and advocacyโ€ and functioning โ€œmore as a political body than a scientific body.โ€ He suggested the EPA could โ€œreconsider its endangerment finding without almost exclusively relying upon the IPCC,โ€ according to remarks posted to hisย website.

As of Wednesday, Senate Democrats were seeking to delay Wheelerโ€™s confirmation, but a vote is still expected this week.

If Wheeler is confirmed, Murray will have a close ally near the top of the EPA, who might have the explicit assignment to consider the endangerment finding. And if Pruitt doesnโ€™t survive his many scandals, Murrayโ€™s recent top lobbyist will be running the agency that is, for now, legally compelled to regular carbon dioxideย emissions.

Main image: Robert Murray speaks at BNEF Future of Energy Summit. Credit: Bloomberg New Energyย Finance

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Ben Jervey is a Senior Fellow for DeSmog and directs the KochvsClean.com project. He is a freelance writer, editor, and researcher, specializing in climate change and energy systems and policy. Ben is also a Research Fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. He was the original Environment Editor for GOOD Magazine, and wrote a longstanding weekly column titled โ€œThe New Ideal: Building the clean energy economy of the 21st Century and avoiding the worst fates of climate change.โ€ He has also contributed regularly to National Geographic News, Grist, and OnEarth Magazine. He has published three booksโ€”on eco-friendly living in New York City, an Energy 101 primer, and, most recently, โ€œThe Electric Battery: Charging Forward to a Low Carbon Future.โ€ He graduated with a BA in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College, and earned a Masterโ€™s in Energy Regulation and Law at Vermont Law School. A bicycle enthusiast, Ben has ridden across the United States and through much ofย Europe.

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