Box Elder County Commissioner Stan Summers is making his voice heard on the topic of the implementation of the EPA’s Good Neighbor rule. Summers calls it a new and costly regulatory push that will “place huge new burdens on Utah power companies to meet stringent ozone related emissions reductions” and this is in spite of the fact that the “ozone layer has largely recovered from the problems of 30 years ago thanks to cleaner operating power plants.” Summers continues that “to meet this demand would require costly changes to existing facilities, changes that are not needed, and could cause the closing of some plants with many years of useful life left in them. This in turn would create strains on our electric grid by reducing available power and, at the same time, raising costs to our customers. It’s not something we want, and it’s not something our state wants,” he continues. “Utah power plants are not driving ozone problems. Over the last two decades, while power generation has increased significantly, emissions from this work have declined precipitously. But it seems even our best efforts are never enough for the Washington bureaucrats and regulators who do not have to live with the consequences of their demands on us.” Summers says regulating industry is a job that historically is done by the state Division of Public Utilities who work to keep air clean while also providing abundant and affordable electric power. In this realm he says there is no place for the heavy hand of federal government overreach.
