EPA Regulations May Cause Layoffs

The slew of new EPA regulations coming in the next few years is causing at least one Wisconsin utility to consider laying off workers. The lay-offs would come as some generators are shut down so that the utility can comply with EPA standards.

The Wausau Daily Herald reported on December 2nd:

Wisconsin Public Service Corp. could lay off up to 74 workers at its Rothschild and Green Bay power plants within the next year, because of increasing regulatory costs, the utility said today.

The utility is looking at ways to cut costs tied to environmental regulations associated with running coal-fired power plants, WPSC spokesman Kerry Spees said. It’s possible no workers ultimately are laid off, he said. WPSC is required to give union workers a 12-month notice for any possible layoffs[.]

“It’s not a specific regulation, but as plants get older they’re more expensive to modify to meet whatever changes there are,” Spees said.
Of the 74 employees, 16 work at the Rothschild plant, Spees said. The plant currently employs 186 workers. The workers possibly affected run some of the older, less efficient units, he said.

WPSC’s older, coal-fired units are more costly to run than newer ones, because they regularly have to be updated to meet regulations, Spees said.

An analysis is underway to determine what WPSC should do with its older units. Options include shutting down the older units, running them less or converting them to meet the environmental regulations, Spees said.

The Weston Power Plant operates four units, including Weston 4, a state-of-the-art unit that became operational in 2008. That unit will not be affected, Spees said. Spees was unsure which of the other three units could be affected if WPSC decides to shut any of them down.

In addition to lost jobs, the regulations may also result in electric reliability issues. The EPA considers the negative outcomes of each rule as it is promulgated, but it does not consider the impact of the sum of all of its rules. Industry leaders, citing the cumulative impact of all the rules, predict the regulatory “train wreck” of rules will have impacts far beyond what the EPA estimates.

Information about proposed rules at both the federal and state level is available on the Great Lakes Legal Foundation Regulatory Watch website.

This post was authored by GLLF staff attorney Emily Kelchen.