This U.S. state could win big from the EPA’s clean power plan
…..My home state of Texas stands to reap a windfall from the Clean Power Plan. As states reduce greenhouse gas emissions, they will buy low-carbon fuels such as natural gas, wind and solar, which Texas has in abundance. Despite being well-positioned to benefit from the plan, in a startling illustration of how ideology can prevail over self-interest, Texas has threatened to sue the EPA to stop the plan, putting billions of dollars of additional economic activity in the state at risk.
Along with shifting political alliances and states working against their own self-interest, different energy producers are switching teams. Natural gas, which has teamed up with coal the last few years to beat up on renewables, has finally decided to team up with renewables to beat up on coal. Public announcements from international oil and gas companies in the last few weeks signal the end of a prolonged period in which natural gas companies were conspicuously silent about carbon reductions, seemingly out of respect for their fossil fuel brethren, coal. But gas producers have finally figured out they are part of the solution and tens of billions of dollars are at stake, so professional courtesy has been shoved aside for practical business priorities.
