Not a single atmospheric scientist is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. But that didn’t stop the chamber’s Republican majority last week from passing a bill that would allow it to intervene in behalf of a narrow interest and override a science-based plan to reduce the commonwealth’s carbon emissions.
In an initiative that already has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced a plan to reduce carbon emissions across the U.S. by 30 percent by 2030.
Most of that pollution comes from older coal-fired power plants. Pennsylvania’s carbon emissions from such plants are the third-highest among the states.
Because each state has a different mix of power generation and emission sources, the EPA left it up to states to devise plans to meet the carbon reduction goals.
To that end, Pennsylvania already is ahead of the curve due to economics more so than environmental concerns. The sudden abundance of natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale has made that fuel far less expensive than coal, prompting many power generators to convert coal plants to gas. That is a major reason that the state’s carbon emissions have declined by about 10 percent over the last decade.
The House GOP majority, possibly reacting to a potential loss of the executive branch to Democrats, passed a bill last week that would allow the Legislature to intervene in the state compliance plan. The decision clearly is at the behest of the coal industry.
This is a case of attempting to legislate to favor one industry over another — the very picking of winners and losers that the Republican lawmakers so often decry.
The Senate could vote on the bill this week. It should reject it, keeping in mind that any plan submitted by the commonwealth must be approved by the EPA, which will implement a plan of its own if the state plan does not meet the standards.
Better to enable the administration, whether the current one or the next, to submit a science-based plan aimed at compliance rather than a political-based plan that won’t pass review.
