Power industry meetings begin with WH on carbon rule

Representatives for the electric power industry are starting to line up at the White House to talk carbon emissions.

A handful of power industry lobbyists met with officials from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) earlier this month to discuss the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) carbon emissions rules for existing coal-fired power plants.

{mosads}The EPA sent its draft regulation on new limits for existing coal-fired power plants to OMB on April 1, according to records posted by the White House.

A few days later OMB, EPA, and White House officials met with the lobbyists for Xcel Energy, PPL Corporation and PNM — all major electric utility corporations.

The rule is a major piece of President Obama’s second-term legacy on climate change, and possibly one of the most contentious regulatory actions proposed but the administration.

The EPA is on track to formally propose the draft rule for existing plants by June, keeping to a strict timeline that will ensure the rule is finalized by the time Obama leaves office.