U.S.
Dec. 26—FRANKFORT — Kentucky residents deserve to have their energy needs met at a reasonable cost without fear of brownouts or blackouts like those experienced with Winter Storm Elliott in 2022. The failure of a single natural gas valve on the coldest day of the year shut down the grid and caused Kentucky families and businesses needless harm and suffering.
Last year's events proved we need our power plants now more than ever. Yet the Biden administration is forcing the premature closure of coal-fired energy plants in favor of renewable energy by 2035 in a way that won't meet Kentucky residents' and businesses' energy demands. Eighty percent of Kentucky's energy is powered through coal, and renewables simply can't meet our demands in the next decade. Kentucky is facing an electric reliability crisis, and this crisis will only be exasperated as Kentucky's manufacturing economy grows.
The pandemic's artificial shutdowns exposed supply chain issues making it clear that the United States must remain independent from the whims of overseas manufacturers. These fragile supply chain links—coupled with the war in Ukraine and now between Israel and Hamas—are causing manufacturers to relocate to the US. We must produce our needed power and can't afford to remove our most reliable coal-fired generation capacity sources when they are needed to support our economy and national security.
We simply can't take out the bridge coal-fired plants provide before we cross the river into the new energy future, likely more than two decades away. During this transition period, no matter how long it takes, we must maintain energy grid redundancy that ensures you have the energy you need when you need it.
Our Kentucky utilities are under pressure from the federal government, their parent companies, and shareholders to replace coal-fired power plants with gas and solar power. The groups calling for these closures fail to acknowledge the importance of coal in Kentucky's energy mix. We support investing in new sustainable energy technologies but have the responsibility to do so in a manner that guarantees the safety, security, and welfare of Kentucky residents.
Kentucky needs all stakeholders—the Kentucky Public Service Commission, investor-owned utilities, local electric co-ops, and local governments—to agree that going green too soon places an unrealistic burden on the existing grid and removes the reliability and redundancy coal-fired plants provide. Switching solely to gas or renewables could mean consumers would be without the energy they need while still having to bear the burden of higher electric bills.