Entergy Corp., the owner of Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, is likely to benefit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency”™s clean power plan announced Monday.
The plan looks to reduce pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, a move decried by the coal-burning companies but potentially serving as a boon to the country”™s plants fueled by nuclear power.
The EPA”™s plan came with the backing of President Barack Obama after a bill to reduce carbon emissions stalled in Congress last year. The plan, which is likely to face legal challenges, places the burden for compliance on the law with individual states. Republicans in Congress are calling the new rule a job killer that will increase rates.
States that rely heavily on coal-generated electricity or have thriving coal industries are already opposing the new regulations, but New York, which says it already has reduced emissions in recent years, is less likely to line up against the plan. Nearly half of New York’s electricity is generated by nuclear and water, according to the Associated Press.
Entergy, a national company that owns facilities across the country, said that it was the first U.S utility to place a voluntary cap on its carbon emissions ”“ a cap that is 20 percent below the company’s 2000 emission levels, according to a news release.
“We believe that Entergy”™s nuclear facilities in New York, including the Indian Point Energy Center, will be essential components of the state”™s plan for compliance with this rule, as those facilities provide around-the-clock, base load power with virtually zero carbon emissions,” the release said.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek quoted Christopher Knittel, director of the Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as saying the rule will speed the transition away from coal to other areas, including nuclear.
“Twenty or thirty years from now, we should expect coal to play a more modest role,” Knittel said, according to Business Week.
