Trump aims for New York in salvo against clean energy

Bloomberg

Federal regulators are set to make a decision on New York’s power market that could disrupt the state’s plans to reach its climate goals.
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to rule on a case filed by some generators who said the state’s policies were unfair because only clean-power producers received subsidies.
In December, FERC changed rules in another market — PJM Interconnection LLC, which stretches from Washington to Chicago — in a way that props up fossil-fuel generators.
Given that action, speculation is now rising that New York’s efforts to support wind farms, solar panels and nuclear plants could be hobbled.
“It would not surprise me if the commission does the same thing that they did to PJM,” said Paul Patterson, an analyst at Glenrock Associates LLC in New York. “Why not go after New York, too.”
If that does happen, it would prove yet another win for US President Donald Trump and his pro-fossil-fuel campaign.
PJM — which operates America’s biggest power market — wants to overturn parts of FERC’s December decision that critics say will make clean energy more expensive and increase costs for consumers.
Most of Trump’s efforts to revive the slumping coal industry have been thwarted by declining costs for renewable energy and state-level energy policies that increasingly favor carbon-free sources.