Senator Markey calls on Trump administration to stop bail-out of coal and nuclear plants, abandon efforts to roll back fuel economy emissions standards

Boston (June 1, 2018) – One year after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) blasted the Administration’s effort to bail-out coal and nuclear power plants using arcane federal laws and called on President Trump to abandon the effort to roll-back historic fuel economy emissions standards that are saving Americans money and cutting the pollution causing climate change. Senator Markey is the co-author of the only comprehensive climate legislation to pass a chamber of the U.S. Congress.

“On the one-year anniversary of his withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate accord, President Trump is giving gifts to King Coal and Big Oil,” said Senator Markey, a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and Chair of the Senate Climate Task Force. “When he isn’t rolling back fuel economy standards at the behest of oil companies, President Trump is trying to bail out coal and nuclear power plants that can’t turn a profit. It’s time we abandon the dirty energy of the 18^th century and invest in the clean and renewable energy sources of the 21^st century. We created as many solar jobs in the United States in 2016 as exist in the entire coal mining industry today. We know that our energy future won’t be found in the darkness of a mine but in the light of the sun. 

“There is cause for hope in the efforts of states, cities, and individuals who continue to commit to climate action in the absence of federal leadership. Sixteen states and Puerto Rico have committed to implementing the goals of the Paris agreement, representing forty percent of the U.S. population and nine trillion dollars of economic activity. More than 100 cities and twenty states have set greenhouse gas emission targets. That means one-third of greenhouse gas emissions and more than half of the U.S. economy remains committed to the Paris accord. This leadership is bringing us closer than ever before to the emissions reductions we need to achieve our international climate commitments and fulfill the promises we made to the world with the Paris agreement.”

In May, Senator Markey sent a letter to the Department of Energy urging the agency not to misuse obscure provisions of the Defense Production Act of 1950 or the Federal Power Act to issue rules that artificially and unnecessarily prop up coal and nuclear plants that are no longer competitive, under the guise of an emergency. A draft DOE memo reported by Bloomberg purportedly outlines how the Trump administration plans to bail out unprofitable coal and nuclear power plants by requiring electricity companies buy electricity from them for the sake of national security.

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