Michael Shellenberger and Mark Nelson opine that detractors say that the Trump administration's new energy subsidy is bad for the environment because it supports coal. But they've forgotten nuclear.
Late last month, Energy Secretary Rick Perry asked federal regulators to financially reward coal plants for keeping the electric grid “resilient.” Under the proposed rule, coal plants would be rewarded not for generating electricity but rather for being the kind of plants which can store several months worth of fuel on-site. So much of the controversy over Perry’s proposed resiliency rule has focused on its support for coal plants that most observers have overlooked how it would also benefit nuclear plants, which produce fewer carbon emissions than solar farms, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
As such, and however paradoxical it may seem, Perry’s proposed resiliency rule could be the most important policy for protecting clean air and the climate in decades. To understand why, consider the fact that over half of America’s nuclear power plants are losing money and at risk of being replaced by fossil fuels, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. And about half of those at-risk plants are in the regions would benefit from the proposed rule.
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