War on coal is war on Missouri -- and Sikeston

scottw@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- The Presidential administration's war on coal is a war on Missouri, according to U.S. Rep. Jason Smith of the 8th District. And Sikeston is on the front line.

Smith met with officials from the Sikeston Board of Municipal Utilities Tuesday at BMU offices to discuss U.S Environmental Protection Agency rules which would make coal-fired power plants a thing of the past.

The EPA announced proposed greenhouse gas standards for new fossil fuel-fired power plants on Sept. 20 with separate emissions limits for new natural gas plants and for coal-fired plants, according to Smith. These regulations would impose a de facto ban on new coal plants in the U.S. as the new allowed emissions levels are impossible for coal plants to meet using technology that is available now, effectively eliminating coal as a fuel source for generating electricity in the future.

"These rules have completely gone unnoticed by the general public," Smith said. "The attention on the news is the ObamaCare fiasco."

Coal-fired plants provide well over 80 percent of the state's energy, according to Smith.

Smith said coal is "our greatest natural resource," Smith said, and the country's largest source of electric power.

And, he said, the low cost of electricity generated by coal-fired plants provides the Midwest with a competitive advantage in attracting industry.

For the complete article and more local news stories, see the Nov. 6 edition of the Standard Democrat. For the electronic edition click here to log on.