Miss. Groups Attack Carbon Dioxide Limits

BY JEFF AMY
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi regulators and utilities are savaging the federal government’s proposal to force Mississippi power plants to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

In comments filed in December, leaders of utilities, state agencies and business groups called the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan illegal, infeasible and economically unbearable.

The EPA announced specific targets for all the states in June, accepting comments through Dec. 1. The proposal calls for Mississippi’s power plants to emit 38 percent less carbon dioxide in 2030 than in 2005.

Opponents warn the EPA’s plan would force all of Mississippi’s existing coal-fired plants to close. They also say the EPA’s promise of state-level flexibility in meeting the target is a mirage.

Mississippi regulators say the state has little ability to generate electricity from windmills or hydroelectric dams.