President Trump’s recent move to roll back clilmate regulations on fossil fuels has prompted the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity to start talks about building a new coal plant somewhere in the U.S.
Paul Bailey, ACCCE’s President and CEO said the talks are being held with an “unnamed state’s governor and lawmakers” about providing incentives for a power company to plan a new coal-fired facility.
“I don’t think this is going to happen overnight. There are a lot of discussions and steps to go through to build a new coal plant,” said Bailey.
But he’s also optimistic about saving the existing coal fleet nationally and is encouraging several states to consider new coal plants. But he also must know he’ll run into a fight with environmental groups. Bruce Nilles with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign says his organization will fight “tooth and nail” against any new coal operation.
“Bring it on,” said Nilles in a recent interview. “We’re trying to solve the problem of climate change and it would be a red-hot poker in the eye.”
