LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky power cooperative expressed concerns over new Environmental Protection Agency rules it said could double consumer’s energy bills.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is suing the EPA to get the rules overturned.

The East Kentucky Power Cooperative said if the rules go into effect, its consumers could face less reliable energy.

What You Need To Know

  •  The Environmental Protection Agency issued new rules for power plants earlier this year

  • The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is suing the EPA to get the rules overturned.

  • The East Kentucky Power Cooperative said one of the new rules could cost them about $10.7 billion to adhere to

  • EKPC said its consumers could see their energy bills doubled if the rules are not overturned

A beef cattle farm in Winchester, Kentucky relies on energy from the East Kentucky Power Cooperative, a generation and transmission co-op that provides electricity to 16 co-ops.

“You know, the reason they were formed is to provide affordable and reliable power to the rural community,” said Bill Shearer, farmer in Winchester.

The EPA issued new rules this year. The biggest being existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants must control 90% of their carbon pollution. That rule alone, the EKPC said, would cost them $10.7 billion.

“They keep coming out with rules are so expensive that we’ll move to a different technology. But unfortunately, we’re moving to a different technology that doesn’t have fuel security, and that’s a reliability issue,” said Tony Campbell, CEO, East Kentucky Power Cooperative.

The cost to sequester that carbon would fall on its roughly 1.2 million people that it serves, increasing their bills by 96% at most, according to the EKPC.

“Your margins just keep getting smaller and smaller because your expenses are increasing faster than your income is increasing,” said Shearer.

The NRECA is asking the federal appeals court to overturn the rules the EPA wants in place by 2032 and the EKPC filed a declaration supporting them. Then last week, both of them requested the Supreme Court issue a stay.

“What the stay means, if you look at the timeline that the EPA put on us to comply, we need to start today if we’re going to try to comply, because it’ll take us cradle to grave … probably eight or ten years,” said Campbell.

Campbell said other forms of energy are not as reliable as coal because they have fuel security issues.

“People like I said, think we need to go to all renewables and that technology just hasn’t matured enough. We need that to mature more,” Campbell said.

He said he expects to hear from the Supreme Court quickly about the stay …and the decision regarding overturning of the rules may take more time.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the EPA about the power plant rules and legal battles.

The organization responded by saying, “Because this is pending litigation, EPA has no further information to provide.”

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