Howard Electric Cooperative joins the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA ) in thanking the Trump administration for its proposals to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s power plant rule and mercury and air rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented two rules aimed at reducing pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. The first requires existing coal-fired and new natural gas plants to reduce their carbon pollution by 90% using carbon capture technology. The second strengthens the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), tightening limits on hazardous metals such as mercury from lignite coal-fired power plants.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said last week the agency is not eliminating MATS, but rather proposing to revise it to remove the gratuitous requirements added by the Biden administration in 2024.

Howard Electric Cooperative CEO Amber Overfelt called the EPA’s rules overreaching and asserted they would have forced the early retirement of coal plants. “This would have driven up member rates if we were forced to pay for both stranded assets and replacing it with a more expensive replacement power. Howard Electric is committed to providing reliable, safe, clean power at the most affordable cost possible.”

In a statement last week, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson said the Biden-era EPA power sector rules are unlawful, unrealistic and unachievable. “They will jeopardize the reliability of the electric grid for as long as they remain in effect. The announcements are a welcome course correction that will help electric co-ops reliably meet skyrocketing energy needs and keep the lights on at a cost local families and businesses can afford.”

NRECA and its members object to the existing power plant rule because it exceeds EPA’s authority, disregards prior Supreme Court decisions, and requires the use of inadequately demonstrated carbon capture and storage technology,” Mr. Matheson said.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national trade association representing nearly 900 local electric cooperatives. From growing suburbs to remote farming communities, electric co-ops serve as engines of economic development for 42 million Americans across 56 percent of the nation’s landscape. As local businesses built by the consumers they serve, electric cooperatives have meaningful ties to rural America and invest $15 billion annually in their communities.

Howard Electric is part of Missouri’s three-tiered cooperative system. Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) owns the generation fleet and Central Electric Power Cooperative owns the transmission lines that deliver the power to the substations so that Howard Electric can distribute the power to the homes and businesses of its member-owners.

“With the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warning of elevated blackout risk across much of the U.S. over the next five years, this is no time to take reliable power sources offline,” said Mrs. Overfelt. “Repealing the EPA rule is a step toward protecting reliability across the county.”