Energy Secretary Rick Perry spoke in Austin today about a new Department of Energy plan to bail out failing coal and nuclear power plants in the name of national security.
The former Texas governor said these plants keep their fuel on-site, making them more resilient in the event of an attack or natural disaster.
鈥淭he president is right to view grid resilience as a serious national security issue," Perry told attendees at the Department of Energy conference on cybersecurity. "And he鈥檚 directed me to prepare immediate steps to stop the loss of these critical resources.鈥�
Since taking over the federal agency, Perry has been trying to find ways to , long in decline in the face of competition from cheap natural gas and renewable energy.
His first proposal was . The new plan, laid out in a leaked last week, cites national security laws to argue that the president can force grid operators to buy power from coal and nuclear plants, extending a lifeline at the expense of ratepayers.
The coal industry has , but it鈥檚 difficult to find other groups that think the government should protect coal power.
In the last few days, an unusual coalition of grid operators, environmentalists, and oil, gas and renewable-energy companies have all come out against the plan.
Opponents point out that subsidizing coal could cost the public more than , and there鈥檚 little evidence it has a security benefit.
鈥淭he problem is there isn鈥檛 a study that shows [coal and nuclear power] is incredibly valuable," Severin Borenstein, who studies energy at UC Berkeley鈥檚 Haas School of Business, . "In fact, the earlier version of the Department of Energy study of resiliency 鈥� actually said it wasn鈥檛 incredibly valuable.鈥�
While Perry said he will prepare 鈥渋mmediate steps鈥� to bail out coal power, it鈥檚 unclear what those steps would be.
Groups opposed to the plan have already .
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates most of the state's grid, said it will review the proposal鈥檚 potential impacts to the electricity market once it receives an official copy.
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