Perry says federal incentives to save coal, nukes up to FERC

摘要

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry told reporters the Department of Energy is not developing any policy incentives to keep struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants operating, insisting that doing so is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s job. The comments came after a speech this week at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in which he warned that regulation and clean power advocates are grave threats to the US economy, largely repeating the speech he offers at most public appearances, although perhaps more forcefully than usual. “I don’t think the DOE has any regulatory or statutory authority” to provide subsidies for coal and nuclear power, Perry said. Perry added efforts to formulate subsidies do not appear to have made any headway in the past year or so. In January 2018, FERC rejected a proposed rule DOE developed that would have ensured full cost recovery for plants that stored at least 90 days of fuel onsite — criteria that essentially only nuclear and some coal plants could have met.