The Trump administration is mulling the use of a Truman-era law to make good on the promise to restore the coal industry, according to a Thursday report from Bloomberg.
The Defense Production Act of 1950 offers the president power to implement subsidies for domestically produced materials in the name of national defense and also claims “it is necessary and appropriate to assure the availability of domestic energy supplies.”
Per reports, the Trump administration believes his authority under the law could be a way to help out nuclear and coal plants, and one that may have a better chance against judicial scrutiny.
So far, the administration hasn’t found a winning strategy for saving the two ailing industries.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rebuffed one attempt to help coal and nuclear in January when it rejected Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s plan to provide support for plants with 90 days of fuel on site. It opted instead to open its own resilience proceeding.
FirstEnergy in March requested the Department of Energy use its emergency authority under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to provide a lifeline to its coal and nuclear plants. The department has not yet made a decision on the request.
The Cold War-era law may offer the administration another chance, if it can argue that supporting coal and nuclear falls within its purview. Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program, wrote on Twitter that “the law’s purposes are rooted in military preparedness for war, disasters, and terrorism.” …….HTTPS://WWW.GREENTECHMEDIA.COM/ARTICLES/READ/THE-TRUMP-ADMINISTRATION-JUST-HATCHED-ANOTHER-PLAN-TO-BUOY-COAL-AND-NUCLEAR#GS.N9AYK8K
The Trump Administration Just Hatched Another Plan to Buoy Coal and Nuclear