The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a new rule limiting CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-fired (coal and natural gas) power plants. As you might expect, given the ideological bent of EPA, the rule is a Trojan horse, the real purpose of which is to induce the nation’s coal plants and some natural gas power generation to shut down under the increasing weight of federal regulations.

Center of the American Experiment is sounding the alarm on EPA’s rule. Our energy team was hired by the State of North Dakota to model the EPA proposal to determine whether it could supply reliable electricity to the 15 states on the MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) grid. Our team found that the grid implied by the EPA rule, heavily dependent on sporadic wind and solar power, would result in devastating blackouts. They further calculated that if the grid were to be made mostly (but not entirely) immune to blackouts, while still complying with the EPA rule, another $246 billion would have to be spent within the MISO system alone.

[Be sure to click over and read CAE’s official public comment submission, authored by Isaac Orr. As with everything at CAE, it shows a real depth of research and analysis. Keep an eye on this, as it will become a bigger story down the road. And, I suspect, yet another reason that Texas may resolve to keep their grid separate from MISO and SWPP. — Ed]