"Perry’s Grid Study Calls for Easing Pollution Rules on Power Plants"

"A rush study on the reliability of the nation's electric grid ordered by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry concedes that the rapid increase of clean, cheap solar and wind power hasn't thrown the power network out of kilter.

Even so, the report puts the Trump administration's thumb on the policy scales, recommending easing pollution regulations and changing rules for pricing of electricity, along with other steps intended to protect the beleaguered coal industry's historical role as the foundation of the entire grid.

Nowhere in the report is there any discussion of the main justification for propelling more carbon-free electricity into the market: the risk of catastrophic climate change if a business-as-usual grid, powered predominantly by fossil fuels, is allowed to function without regard to the costs of global warming it would create.

Instead, in a brief paragraph wedged without elaboration into its recommendations, it adopts the administration's bumper-sticker slogan of "energy dominance" as a key consideration in maintaining electric reliability."

John H. Cushman Jr. and Georgina Gustin report for InsideClimate News August 24, 2017.

SEE ALSO:

"Grid: 'If It's A Plan To Save Coal, It's Not A Very Good One'" (Greenwire)