AFPOK Study On Regional Haze Examines Costs
Study: Settlement will cost ratepayers
by D. Ray Tuttle
Published: August 26th, 2013
TULSA – Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Sierra Club and other parties will cost ratepayers $529 million and cut the PSO system capacity by 210 megawatts, according to a study.
On Monday, the Oklahoma chapter of the conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity Foundation released the study titled “EPA Overreach: Higher Cost, Less Energy, Greater Risk.” William Yeatman, an assistant director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, performed the study.
“Plain and simple, President (Barack) Obama’s EPA is forcing states into agreements which will have a drastic effect on the economy of Oklahoma,” said Matt Ball, state director for the nonprofit AFP Foundation, on Monday. “Nothing in today’s economy is produced without energy and to drive up those prices makes our state less competitive in the marketplace and we can’t just allow that to happen.
Ball called for a review of any proposed regional haze standards in Oklahoma that put the brunt of regulations on the shoulders of ratepayers.