What the administration requires will cost Americans a ton of money
The supporters of the Obama administration have a clear vision of the nation's energy future. It involves windmills and solar arrays - but not coal. They don't like carbon.
The administration takes no responsibility for whether the resulting power supply will be adequate, reliable or affordable. Accordingly, it has tasked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to kill the coal industry and coal-burning utilities as rapidly as possible through regulation.
Out in America, however, people are responsible for whether Americans have power they can afford.
Nick Akins, president and chief executive officer of American Electric Power, heads a company that serves 5.3 million customers in 11 states. Subsidiary Appalachian Power serves about 500,000 customers in West Virginia and half a million more in Virginia.
Customers must understand the disconnect between what the administration wants and what the utility can do to understand what happens to their bills.
Akins laid out his concerns about current policy at the University of Charleston Tuesday evening:
* The EPA wants coal-fired utilities to replace 25 percent of their generating capacity by 2014, a time frame Akins said makes no sense.
* AEP has spent $7.2 billion on pollution control equipment in recent years and has cut carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent.
* Now the Obama administration demands that the company spend $6 billion to $8 billion more to cut the remaining 20 percent of emissions.
* Doing what the EPA wants would require more contractors than Akins thinks it is possible to find.
* Furthermore, switching from reliable, low-cost coal to unreliable renewable sources will mean an additional 10 to 25 percent increase in the cost of electricity.
* Natural gas will help in the medium term, but the nation will still need coal, he said. "If someone is trying to eliminate that, it's just not going to happen."
* "To not allow the Keystone pipeline and to say no to coal and no to nuclear - then what?" he asked. "For us to continue to make advances, the state regulators need to speak up. It definitely is a challenge for us."
As Akins said, electric power is a "basic necessity of life as we know it."
An administration that risks it with irresponsible energy policy should expect trouble at the ballot box.