US officials spark backlash with 'emergency' policy that could cost billions: 'Profoundly incorrect'

President Donald Trump has given an executive order, stating that the United States is under an energy emergency.

What's happening?

Due to this declaration, the Department of Energy has been permitted to keep fossil fuel power plants running past the dates they were originally set to retire, per Utility Dive. This, in turn, has resulted in multiple predictions of energy price rate increases for American consumers. According to an analysis done by Grid Strategies LLC, "DOE mandates to retain retiring fossil power plants could cost U.S. electricity consumers between $3.1 billion and $5.9 billion per year … with electricity costs increasing by tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars … "

Many power plants were slated to retire after multiple inspections by state regulators that deemed them unnecessary. The DOE's overriding of such decisions undermined the validity of the research put into them and overturned what had already been decided. Grid Strategies emphasized that this mandate will inflate "electric bills for homeowners and businesses and undermin[e] the competitiveness of U.S. factories and data centers."

Why is this important?

Furthermore, beyond the ever-increasing prices the average American would pay in tax rates to keep the unneeded plants open, the energy they create is unable to compete with cleaner, healthier, and more cost-effective sources.

According to Active Sustainability, "renewable energies are obtained from inexhaustible natural sources and generate clean electricity." These can range from solar to wind to geothermal heat. Fossil fuels like coal and oil are one of the primary contributors to global overheating gas pollution, and have been consistently linked to lower air quality, water quality, and public health.

Continued lobbying for the retention of fossil fuel power plants like the ones Trump has covered under his state of emergency actively blocks the path towards cleaner energy and a healthier planet.

What's being done about this?

However, public interest groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Ecology Center, and Urban Core Collective, have come together to dispute the DOE's claim for the United States' energy emergency status.

In their motion to intervene and request for rehearing, they stated that the Order was built upon a "profoundly incorrect understanding" of its source material, that it "makes no effort to limit the significant environmental and public health harms caused by burning coal at the plant, despite explicit instruction from Congress to do so," and that the Order attempts to replace state-by-state planning "with an ill-advised and misinformed exercise in federal command-and-control. That effort disserves the public and violates the law. The Order must be rescinded."

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