In his State of the Union address two weeks ago, President Obama said that he wants an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy. But his new and proposed regulations from the EPA could make it impossible for new coal-fueled power plants to be built in the future.

That’s what Ralph Roberson, president of an air quality consulting company that provides services to utilities and industrial companies, said at a House Energy & Power Subcommittee hearing today on the Utility MACT rule, arguing that EPA’s new rules prevent Americans from building new power plants fueled by one of America’s most abundant and reliable domestic resources:

“In essence, EPA has adopted standards that prevent the country from building new coal-fueled units … Electric utilities have always relied on a diverse set of resources as a means of insuring against the uncertainty of the future. Coal has always played a prominent role in utility resources portfolios because it is a domestic fuel and, over the long term, has proved to be reliably available at stable and predictable prices. Banning new coal-fired EGUs would represent a significant shift in U.S. energy policy and the way utilities have planned their portfolios, with potentially significant consequences for electric ratepayers.”

Dr. Anne Smith of NERA economic consulting reminded Subcommittee members that although EPA and others claim that jobs can be created by Utility MACT, one has to take into account the net employment impacts of these rules. And job losses are significant:

“[T]he net impact to U.S. workers in 2015 will be a reduction in worker income that is equivalent to about 200,000 full-time jobs. The net impacts are largest in the period around 2015, but remain a net negative through 2035. These estimates of total worker income impacts are net of (i.e., include) the increases in demand for labor to implement the electric sector’s compliance projects. The vast majority of the reduction occurs in the services and non-energy manufacturing sectors, which have to absorb the higher natural gas and electricity prices induced by the MATS Rule.”

The Utility MACT rule would also have devastating effects on America’s manufacturing sector because of electricity cost increases and decreased electricity reliability. As Darren MacDonald, Director of Energy for Gerdau Long Steel North America, said to the Subcommittee, only substantially changing this rule would prevent these impacts:

“The steel sector is concerned about increased electricity costs and reliability issues that may result from this regulation. This is for the simple fact that all of the compliance costs and reliability risks will ultimately be passed on to us, the consumers. Our concern is that a confluence of new EPA regulations on the utility sector over the next 5 years – capped by the Utility MACT Rule – will have a substantial impact on our direct cost of doing business … If electricity prices do not remain affordable and if electric supply is not reliable, the economic recovery can be put at risk along with it manufacturing jobs.”

Click here to learn more about how EPA’s Utility MACT rule and other regulations would impact you and your family.