At the US Environmental Protection Agency’s only hearing to discuss the Clean Power Plan, the business community turned out and either asked for outright repeal or strict curbs on the proposal’s reach.

 

It’s an extension of the Trump administration’s outreach to businesses that it has said have been hurt the would-be regulation. The hearing was held in an area of the country loyal to Trump: West Virginia.

 

President Trump ran for office on a platform that said carbon restrictions are killing the coal industry, which is providing reliable and inexpensive fuel to the rest of the country. As a result, EPA Administrator Scott Pruit said in October that the Trump administration would seek to undo the Clean Power Plan.

 

“While ERCC believes that absent specific guidance in legislation from the U.S. Congress, market principles are the most sound basis upon which to proceed, we nevertheless support the process advanced by EPA,” Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council said at the EPA hearing in Charleston, WV, where this reporter attended.

 

“Federal guidance of sufficient flexibility, and limited to actions within the fenceline, can provide regulatory certainty, diminish frivolous litigation, and can aide in planning,” he added.

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