The War on Coal Czar
A coal-mining operation. Photo: Stephen Codrington/Wikimedia Commons
Howard Shelanski just might be the most powerful man in America you've never heard of. The Obama administration's new regulatory czar -- officially, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) -- has the authority to review, delay, or implement the regulations on businesses and families proposed by the federal government. Unfortunately, the fact that Shelanski has more influence over our daily lives than do our elected leaders in Congress speaks volumes to the upside-down state of government under the Obama administration.
Among the plethora of burdensome regulations for which Shelanski oversees enforcement, those constituting President Obama's "War on Coal" have been by far the most damaging to workers and middle-class families. Obama has stridently pursued anti-coal policies since taking office, urging Congress to pass higher energy taxes and imposing cap-and-trade-style restrictions through the EPA when legislation to that effect failed in the Senate. But the next twelve months could be the D-Day of his War on Coal, with the EPA poised to roll out two new sets of job-killing regulations on coal-fired power plants.
Under the guise of protecting us from climate change, the EPA is preparing to deal a death blow to the coal industry -- and, more importantly, to the millions of Americans who rely on inexpensive electricity from coal-fired plants. These new rules could impose harsh new standards on coal-fired plants, and will likely make it impossible for many smaller plants to survive.
As I outlined in this space last month, coal accounts for nearly half of the nation's electric power supply and is a secure, domestic, and readily available source of energy. It's also the cheapest source of electricity available -- 22 of the 25 power plants with the lowest operating costs in the U.S. are fueled by coal.
New anti-coal laws could have a particularly crippling effect on rural communities, where sweeping changes to infrastructure are difficult to implement. It's no surprise that the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, which represents co-ops that provide about 13 percent of Americans with electricity, has been among the most vocal critics of Obama's plan.
The EPA has also been using junk science to tighten the noose on coal-fired power plants. Last year, the agency used a study on the mercury content of Faroese whales to justify backbreaking regulations on coal -- despite American power plants' accounting for less than half of 1 percent of the mercury in the atmosphere. If Shelanski's agency implements these new rules, electricity rates could double in some parts of the country.
Because Obama is circumventing Congress and using executive power to enact these regulations, there is little our elected leaders can do to stop him. Rather, it falls upon Shelanski to decide whether your utility bill will rise: He will decide whether to implement the new rules, delay them, water them down, or send them to "regulatory purgatory."
That Shelanski was appointed by the very administration that is proposing these regulations gives proponents of affordable energy little reason to believe he will step in to save the coal industry. However, progressive groups have criticized OIRA for "trying to water down or kill protective regulations" in the past, suggesting that the czar and his office will have leeway to stand up and forge a sensible path that balances environmental concerns with the best interests of American consumers.
Regardless of whether Shelanski calls off the War on Coal, the mere fact that he has the power to raise energy rates for hundreds of millions of Americans is a sign that the Obama administration has seriously overstepped its constitutional bounds. When Congress is unwilling to pass the laws the president wants, the president should not and does not have the power to pass laws on his own.
The unilateral legislating of the Obama administration has left us in the unenviable position of depending on an unelected, faceless bureaucrat to moderate the radical reforms of the man who put him in office. If you find yourself paying more to heat and cool your home this year, you'll have not only a president, but a czar to blame.
Jason Stverak is the president of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity.
