Local News
Industry officials wary of EPA move on carbon dioxide
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared carbon dioxide a threat to public health earlier this week. But some local business leaders say the EPA’s move, giving itself the power to regulate carbon dioxide, is a threat to industry.
“Our costs are going up 15 percent, 16 percent a year now because of the things we are already required to do to those coal-fired plants we get our energy from,” said Dalton Utilities president and CEO Don Cope. “This announcement by EPA will only further that significantly as they start enforcement.”
Dalton Utilities’ 2010 budget forecasts it will pay $124 million for electricity next year.
Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound consisting of two oxygen atoms bonded to one carbon atom. It is produced during respiration by all animals, including humans. It is also produced when fossil fuels, such as coal or oil, and plant matter, such as wood, are burned. It is a greenhouse gas, which many scientists believe contributes to global warming.
Cope, citing studies by the industry-funded Edison Electric Institute, said capping carbon dioxide could drive up electricity costs to consumers 200 to 300 percent. That will hurt residential consumers, and Cope says it would hammer manufacturers.
“What we are doing is taking a manufacturing base that is already depleted and fleeing from our shores and increasing their burden,” he said.
Cope said the impact on Georgia could be even greater since it relies on coal-fired plants for more of its electricity than some other parts of the country. He said that it would be better to try to find new technologies to help coal burn cleaner than on discouraging its use.
Frank Hurd, vice president and chief operating officer of the Carpet and Rug Institute, called the EPA decision “troublesome.”
He said the EPA will likely start out regulating facilities that emit 25,000 tons or more a year of carbon dioxide. He said that would affect only a small percentage of carpet mills.
“Our fear is that once they have gotten their feet wet, they are going to start looking at smaller emitters and it’s going to snowball,” he said. “Initially, it will have a relatively minor impact. It’s not going to change the way mills do business. It’s going to change some reporting requirements. It’s going to cost some money. But the real threat is down the road.”
Both Hurd and Cope said they believe the timing of the EPA announcement was politically motivated to give President Barack Obama a boost when he attends a summit on global warming taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Katie Sickler, a member of the Dalton State College Environmental Club, said she believes the decision could be detrimental to the environment because it could divert attention, time and money away from more important environmental issues such as deforestation.
Sickler said preventing the removal of the world’s forests could help on a number of fronts. Trees capture carbon dioxide as they grow, keeping it out of the atmosphere, she said.
“Trees also prevent erosion and they help clean the water supply. We only have so much money we can spend on environmental issues, and if we focus so much on carbon dioxide, we don’t focus on other things that are needed,” she said.
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Preparing for the big game
Kayla Webb, 15, performs a cheer with the varsity and junior varsity members of the North Murray cheerleading team Wednesday as they walk laps around the track at Murray High School. The team is getting ready for their first game of the season, scheduled for Aug. 20, a scrimmage against Murray High. Matt Hamilton/The Daily Citizen
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