Utah governor set to sign coal power plant bill
2 min readUtah Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday he will sign by the end of the day a bill that has been flagged by the Intermountain Power Agency (IPA) as posing risks to its bond-financed transition from coal to cleaner fuels.
“If there are opportunities to keep those facilities running, we’re going to want to exhaust every possibility out there,” Cox told reporters, adding, he envisions the potential of “a third party, if one exists, that would be interested ultimately in purchasing the property.”
He also said there is “a strong possibility” of a special legislative session that could take place before July to make some “tweaks” to the measure.
“More than anything, we just want to make sure we get this right,” Cox said.
In a March 8 letter to the governor,
“IPA has issued nearly $2 billion in bonds to date and has committed to expend billions of dollars more in construction, service, and sales contracts,” Tatton wrote. “(Senate Bill) 161 puts those bonds at risk and jeopardizes IPA’s ability to perform under those contracts.”
The agency
Tatton’s letter noted there is a lack of buyers for electricity produced using coal, and said the measure, if enacted into law, would lead to significant additional costs and delay for IPA’s “renewed” project due to conflicts that would ensue with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations and permits.