State lawmakers object to proposal.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new carbon proposal would raise the price of delivering electricity by 13 percent in Arizona from 2017 to 2031, according to a study from NERA Economic Consulting. That could mean higher electricity prices for both small business owners and consumers.
The proposal, the Clean Power Plant Proposed Rule, aims to cut pollution from power plants. But legislators in Arizona’s House of Representatives called the goals for the state “unreasonable and flawed” in a letter to the EPA.
“The Proposed Rule penalizes Arizona’s leadership in development of carbon-free and low-carbon energy resources and seeks to encumber the state with some of the most stringent carbon dioxide reduction requirements in the country,” the letter said.
Arizona’s utilities have also objected to the proposal, with the Salt River Project asking the EPA to allow states to set their own interim goals before reaching the final goal.
The EPA is proposing that Arizona lower its carbon emissions from the 2012 rate of 1,453 pounds per megawatt hours to 702 by 2030, a decrease of more than 51 percent. Only Washington state had a higher reduction goal, of about 72 percent.
The EPA is expected to finalize its proposal this summer, then states would have to submit plans explaining how they would meet the goals.
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