U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie and Big Rivers President/CEO Bob Berry on Wednesday discussed their views on the push for clean energy, both saying they support efforts to reduce carbon emission but oppose some of the methods and proposed regulations.
With Congress not meeting in August, Guthrie has been meeting with leaders of area utility managers such as Big Rivers. He said much of the discussions have been about the regulatory impact coming from portions of the Inflation Reduction Act and “some of the things coming” from the Environmental Protection Agency.
While they touched on a handful of issues during a media interview, Guthrie and Berry largely addressed current and proposed regulations surrounding carbon emissions.
For example, portions of the Inflation Reduction Act incentivize and accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. Other portions incentivize the use of carbon capture and storage technologies as well as renewable energy projects such as wind and solar power.
However, Berry said such changes could increase utility rates while also decreasing reliability.
“The carbon rule is going to double the rates of the residential ratepayer and increase industrial rates by about almost half a million dollars a month. And it’s an unrealistic timeline that (the federal government) is asking for us to do carbon,” he said. ” And we can’t do that and keep safe, reliable, and affordable your energy to our customers.”
Guthrie and Berry both said the current tight regulations and increased costs could drive companies to move outside of the U.S.
“If we’re not reasonable, it is going to drive industry to other countries that have cheaper power, that have less environmental controls than we have, and it causes problems,” Guthrie said. “If you go too far, you’re gonna have a negative impact on the climate as well.”
Berry added, “We’re not against trying to do something for the climate. … Our concern is that when we start raising rates for these industrial customers, they’re just gonna go to a different country and build their plants there. Then what happens is you actually increase emissions because a lot of the other countries do not have the kind of environmental regulations that we have.”
Guthrie further said that even if the U.S. eliminated carbon output from utilities, it would have a negligible impact on the climate.
“We can all agree we want less carbon in the atmosphere,” Guthrie said. “But 2% of the world’s carbon comes from American utilities. So if you go to zero carbon from American utilities, you don’t solve the problem. I’m telling you, if China and India don’t sign up, you’re not going to have any effect on the global temperature. It doesn’t mean we don’t do anything, but it certainly means we don’t put ourselves at a disadvantage.”
Guthrie reiterated he doesn’t think the U.S. should not address carbon emissions, but should look at “reasonable ways” to capture carbon. He said the capture technology “quite honestly is not there yet.”
Berry agreed, saying, “We should be investing our money in developing that technology to remove the carbon versus making regulations and unrealistic timelines and just hoping somebody figures it out. Our point is, let’s reduce carbon but let’s have a plan to do it, not just wish that it be done. We’re not saying that climate change doesn’t exist. We’re saying it has to be solved in a reasonable manner.”
