Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Don't Blame the EPA for Luminant Job Losses; Blame Perry's Failed Deregulation

In the print edition of today's Houston Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy has a characteristically prescient take the lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency by Luminant, Texas' largest power plant operator.

Luminant, in bed with presidential candidate Gov. Rick Perry, contends that the agency's stricter air quality standards will cause it to close two coal-fired power generating facilities and lay off 500 employees.  But Steffy suggests other culprits:

Given that NRG, the second-biggest generator in the state, says it will comply with the EPA regulations without any layoffs or plant closings, the Luminant job losses would not be caused by the EPA but by Luminant's financial problems.  And, unfortunately, those can be traced directly to Texas' failed attempt at deregulation of electric companies, championed by none other than Gov. Perry himself.

I have looked in vain for an electronic link to Steffy's column.  If one eventually becomes available, I will include it in a comment on this posting.

2 comments:

Doug said...

I have also looked in vain for an electronic link to Steffy's column. However, the print version of the Chronicle does show the comment. Sometimes, the electronic link can be located on the following day. Look for the electronic version of the statement on Sep 15.

Gerald T Floyd said...

As promised yesterday, the following is the link to Loren Steffy's column: http://www.chron.com/business/steffy/article/Loren-Steffy-Don-t-blame-EPA-for-deregulation-2169208.php