Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.
Michael T. Burr is a Fortnightly contributing editor and a freelance writer and managing director of Intersection LLC, a marketing/communications consultancy based in Chicago and Minnesota.
When the acting administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marianne Horinko, signed the EPA's "routine replacement" rule on Aug. 27, 2003, she proclaimed that the new approach to Clean Air Act regulation would "provide … power plants with the regulatory certainty they need."
Then, almost immediately, any illusion of regulatory certainty went up in smoke. A platoon of lawyers from 13 states and two dozen cities marched into federal court and filed suit against the EPA, challenging the legality of its new rule.
"The situation is just as uncertain as it ever was," says Chuck Wehland, a partner with the Jones Day law firm in Chicago. "I think it's doubtful that the routine maintenance and repair rules will survive the legal challenges."
Such uncertainty typifies the state of limbo in which power generators find themselves today, with evolving environmental regulation adding to the uncertainty over a wide range of factors. Consider: