Rate Hikes for Electricity Possible
March 7, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency is hard at work doing what can be done to reduce the haze that is clouding the visibility at 156 class 1 wilderness areas by the year 2064 with the Regional Haze rule. This is being done in order to return the wilderness areas to “natural conditions.
In Oklahoma, the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge home outside Lawton is among these wilderness areas.
One of the coal fired power plants in Oklahoma (OG&E’s Sooner Power Plant), which there are four, is only about 200 miles south of the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, has been determined to be one of the major contributors to the haze in the state of Oklahoma.
The Environmental Protection Agency asked OG&E to submit a plan that would reduce emission. According to the costs that will be incurred by the plan, OG&E customers may see a rate hike to help pay for the plan.
Only a few months ago, both of Oklahoma’s largest electricity providers were discussing rate increase and one was talking about increasing rates that would be a record setter. Of course, this talk disappeared until the Environmental Protection Agency gave their two cents, now there will more than likely be a rate increase.
If you are wondering why the Environmental Protection Agency has anything at all to do with the price we pay for electricity we have to back a few years. Eleven years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency created the Regional Haze Rule as part of the federal Clean Air Act. The rule requires that every state have a State Implementation Plan to reduce the emissions in their state that is the cause of this haze.
The long term of the rule was to restore the visibility at the wilderness areas to natural conditions by 2064.
The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, near Lawton is the only wilderness area falling under this rule. The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge does have a huge problem with the haze in question as some days it can be difficult to view the beauty the refuge has to offer.
A resident of the area, Bill Cunningham explained, “There are days where the wind is down and perhaps a storm front has cleared the air out and you can see for a hundred miles from up here,”…”Not today.”
Steve Thompson the Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality stated, “Regional haze is an artifact of air emissions, particularly sulfur emissions.”
At a public hearing in December 2009, officials at OG&E presented a proposal. Paul Renfrow, OG&E’s Vice President for Public Affairs, stated, “The proposal will result in the single largest rate increase for our customers in the company’s 108-year history.”
Environmental officials in Oklahoma presented their SIP around two weeks ago. The Environmental Protection Agency will go offer this proposal and then reject or accept it no later than May 2011. If the proposal is rejected they will begin their own plan which will more than likely cause a record breaking rate increase.
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One Comment to Rate Hikes for Electricity Possible
Comments
That doesn’t surprise me. Utilities,as well as other essential services are all going up in price. Not so with salaries though eh?
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