The promise of new demand is to encourage some utilities to rethink scheduled coal plants retirements. In Virginia, held by Amazon Web Services 96 Data Centers I’m investing $35 million To expand the campus, the local transmission organization, PJM Interconnect, has requested delayed retirements for two coal plants. Increased demand from data centers. Data center demand from Google and Meta data centers is also storing coal-fired power plants online in Nebraska After the retirement date.
However, keeping a patient on life support is very different from bringing a body back from the dead. PJM Executive I said At a meeting last month, he wasn’t sure if the market was “sending signals that coal should actually stick.” Building a technically modern coal plant, an idea that Trump came to mind on Tuesday’s presser, will be a difficult sell-off in an economy where investors are wary of massive capital investments for outdated technology. Meanwhile, high-tech companies are focusing on long-term energy investments Atomic Powerrenewable energy and battery technology.
Even in states where coal wields political power, data centers have not proven to be their savior. March, West Virginia lawmaker Attachment regulations It will be used in bills aimed at jumping the state’s data center industry to juice coal use. Despite cheerleading from the governor, the bill was ultimately I passed Without a coal provision after Appalachian power, West Virginia’s largest utility stepped in and argued that coal requirements would raise customer bills. Executive I told the lawmakers Not promoting utilities to buy more coal-fired power, even for large new customers like data centers. He said the reality of regulation and finance supports natural gas.
Regulations on coal plant emissions are the government’s clear goal. Last month, the EPA unfolded. A series of attacks It shows its intention to rethink everything from power plant emission regulations to reporting greenhouse gases, across a wide range of regulations. Agents too I created an email address Just as the contaminants have reviewed a number of contamination rules, the Clean Air Act known as the MATS Rules (to allow petitions for temporary exemptions established under the Clean Air Act known as the MATS Rules). Montana’s Corstrip Power Plant – one of the nation’s dirtyest coal plants, Fineting There are already upgrades required by updated pollution regulations request Exemption.
If the new executive order is any proposal, the Trump administration sees this deregulation and targeting of climate change policies as key factors supporting coal. Another presidential declaration announced on Tuesday Expansion Unknown number of coal factories mat exemption, another presidential order task The attorney general attacked state-level climate regulations and selected Vermont, New York and California.
Coal costs can be slightly reduced with low climate restrictions. “We can operate all of these coal plants without reducing environmental regulations or environmental regulations. We are confident that we can save money in the industry,” says Feaster. “Whether the communities around these places are really another issue? These environmental regulations have a reason for this.”
After all, costs aren’t measured in dollars alone. Coal emissions include mixtures of heavy metals and chemicals, including sulfur dioxide, which is lethal to those living around the power plant. a study Released in 2023 Science Between 1999 and 2020, coal-fired power plants were estimated to be the cause of 460,000 excess deaths in the United States alone. Coal waste, on the other hand, is stored in a pond that is toxic to ashes. The leak is costly Some utilities Millions of dollars for the settlement.
According to Feaster, the utility is gaining the health risks of coal and the price of debt that coal comes with decision-making. However, it is not clear whether the Trump administration understands these risks. This month we will be cutting back health and human services. I was exiled Workers involved in researching black lungs and other protection for coal miners at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
On Wednesday, the international market melts, Donald Trump Posted Truthsocial invitations to businesses move their businesses to the US. “There is no delay in the environment,” he wrote. “Don’t wait, do it now!”
