Significant progress has been made in recent decades to reduce air and water pollution. As stakeholders in their local communities, electric cooperatives across the country have invested in new technologies and improved waste management technology to improve air and water quality -- in some instances going beyond the requirements of state and federal law. PowerSouth is one of those cooperatives.

Where we stand:

• PowerSouth supports sensible multi-emission legislation that can reduce power plant emissions more quickly and economically. Any new regulations must be developed following the provisions in the underlying law. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must not take short cuts or overstep its authority. Any and all new regulations need to be weighed to ascertain environmental benefits and consequences for consumer costs and electricity supply impacts. It is not the EPA’s role to use environmental regulation to forward an energy policy agenda. 

  We support scientifically sound, cost-effective methods, while allowing electric utilities as much flexibility as possible.PowerSouth favors waste requirements that minimize economic impacts on the electric consumer, recognizing the need to provide economic and reliable electric power, and consider the regulatory effects on emerging competitive electricity markets.

• Specific regulations/issues we are watching include:

• Greenhouse Gases  |  Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS)  |  Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (Transport Rule)

• Water-Related Regulations |  Coal Combustion Residuals Rule