Constellation Energy Corporation —the third-largest energy producer in the country—announced that it planned to file comments in support of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed carbon pollution standards for power plants, ahead of tomorrow’s EPA comment deadline.
Constellation Energy praised the “very practical” EPA standards for their “flexibility” and called them a “roadmap for the electric industry to step up its efforts.”
Constellation’s statement comes in sharp contrast to the Edison Electric Institute’s reported planned comments attempting to weaken the EPA’s proposed carbon standards by withdrawing common-sense emissions reductions and scrapping existing gas-powered plants from the proposed rule.
Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez specifically called out EEI for “working to block these very practical measures rather than offering constructive solutions and recognizing the imperative of moving our industry toward a carbon-free future, as we inevitably must do.”
As goals are set for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the energy sector is wrestling with the challenge of developing green energy that creates little or no emissions, Dominguez talked about the energy business, prospects for addressing climate change, and the challenges involved in producing carbon-free energy, in a wide-ranging interview with David J. Lynch, global economics correspondent at The Washington Post
“So right now, in 2023, we demonstrated that the technology that EPA relies upon for its new standards that will be in effect in the early part of the next decade,” said Dominguez. “So we’re confident we’re going to be able to do that.”
“There are a great number of companies that are participating in energy power production of utilities that are strongly in favor of making quick progress in dealing with the climate crisis,” said Dominguez. “They’re dealing with the fires, the floods, the hurricanes, all the things that Americans are dealing with and, frankly, people all over the world are dealing with. They’re hearing with the–what’s coming, and they know what’s coming, and so they’re trying to get ahead of it.”
Last week, Evergreen Action and 28 other climate advocacy groups sent a letter to the CEOs of the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) full list of member utilities, calling on them to clarify their stance on their trade organization’s extreme opposition to EPA’s proposed carbon standards and to support pollution controls.
“It’s time for other utilities to step up and stop their delay tactics. Constellation Energy is right to side with EPA and the rest of the industry needs to stop spending your ratepayer money to destabilize our climate,” said Evergreen Action Vice President for Policy Craig Segall.
“The EPA’s carbon standards will protect reliability and affordability, and decrease pollution in the power sector. Constellation Energy’s forward-looking approach is a sign of the momentum of utility companies breaking with the backwards stance of Edison Electric Institute lobbyists. While millions of Americans suffer from extreme heat, it’s time for utilities to speak up and take action on climate change by tomorrow’s EPA comment deadline. Utility companies love to tout their clean energy commitments in snappy TV ads and glossy marketing materials; now is the moment of truth for them to announce where they really stand on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”