This was the unstated but clear goal of the Clean Power Plan. The Obama EPA rigged its cost-benefit analysis by deeming improved efficiency an “avoided cost” rather than a benefit. The Trump plan also doesn’t “roll back” Obama-era reductions since the Supreme Court stayed the Clean Power Plan in February 2016 and likely would have struck it down as an abuse of regulatory power. Coal plants will be better able to compete against cheap natural gas and subsidized wind and solar power. The shale fracking revolution is still the biggest market challenge to coal power, and natural gas will still drive the reduction in U.S. carbon emissions.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 21, 2018 23:26 UTC