Brian Anderson

11/08/2018

BUS 378.04

Synopsis #3

The article that I have chosen is titled “New E.P.A. Rollback of Coal Pollution

Regulations Takes a Major Step Forward”. This article focuses on a current

environmental regulation that is seen as very controversial. Andrew Wheeler, who is the

head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has signed a plan in order to weaken the

regulation that has been put on coal-fired power plants. This signature from Wheeler,

has set in motion the Trump administration's plan to rollback one of the most significant

changes from President Obama’s climate change legacy. The Environmental Protection

Agency is calling this plan the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which will be replacing the

Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan was originally designed to impose a

restriction on the greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The idea behind the

Clean Power Plan was to reduce carbon emissions from these plants in order to

transition toward energy sources that are better for the environment such as solar, wind,

or safer natural gases. An important aspect behind Trump's new plan is that it will allow

the states to have the authority to decide how much to cut admissions. Trump

administration officials have stated that this new plan operates within the bounds of the

1970 Clean Air Act, which they claim the Obama plan had not. Coal-Industry leaders

have voiced their satisfaction with this plan and have offered a lot of praise. “The
proposed rule appears to provide electric cooperatives with a more achievable plan,”.

This quote is from the chief executive of a powerful trade group whose members

receive more than 40% of their energy from coal-fired generation. Although the chief

executive explains how his member are happy because of this new regulation he also

explains how other fuels are becoming more cost effective for businesses. Companies

are investing more in natural gases and renewable sources for energy. Although this

plan will weaken the regulation on coal-plants it is not expected to completely reverse

the decline of the coal industry due to this competition from cheaper alternatives like the

natural gases and renewable sources. The effect that this new plan will have on the

coal-fired plants is that it will offer them incentives in order to keep them running longer

and may also allow them to avoid installing modern pollution controls.

This article relates a lot to what we have discussed in class in regards to

industrial pollution and environmental regulation.The article focuses on the new

regulation that is being proposed, the effect that this could have on public health, and

how businesses in this industry will be affected. One of the major criticisms of this plan

was that it could be seen as a retreat in the fight to address climate change. The

Affordable Clean Energy Rule plans to loosen regulation on the use of coal in power

plants, which will increase the pollution and have an effect on climate change and even

human health. Due to regulations that have put on businesses, they have been forced

to find cleaner alternatives such as natural gases and renewable energy because it is

healthier for the environment. This plan is going against that and will allow businesses

to go back to using coal more heavily than they do now if they want to. Since
businesses will not be forced to use other alternatives as heavily as they were before it

may weaken the importance of finding more efficient way to produce energy cleanly

because they are able to go back to coal if needed. This plan could be seen as a step

back in environmental protection in order for coal-fired industries to be able to profit

more. This raises the question about whether damaging our climate is worth making

money to businesses. The Affordable Clean Energy Rule directly relates to the

connection between business, government, and society. In this case the government

has made the decision to allow businesses to pollute more than they currently are. This

allows businesses to change the way they are currently operating and may give a

competitive disadvantage to companies who believe in protecting the environment.

Since businesses will be allowed to pollute more it affects society because it may cause

harm to human health and the increased pollution may damage ecosystems. I think

something interesting that came from this article was looking at ways that environmental

regulation may be deregulated. In class we had focused mainly on how the E.P.A puts

regulations on businesses to prevent pollution and harm to the environment. In this case

the E.P.A is basically deregulating part of the coal industry by allowing more pollution

than before.