14 DAY TRIAL // The US National Economic Research Associates recently made it public news that, according to their estimates, EPA's [Environmental Protection Agency] latest air quality standards will translate into roughly 1.5 million American citizens losing their jobs.
Thus, countless individuals presently employed in the country's energy industry will find that the coal-based power stations they work for will have no choice but to shut down.
In most cases, this will happen simply because their electricity generating facilities cannot abide by the new rules and regulations concerning environmental protection. Environmental Leader informs us that, despite new job opportunities being created by the need to implement pollution-control technologies at several coal power stations in the US, the country's employment rates will be significantly reduced.
More precisely, the researchers who put together this report are quite convinced that between 2013-2034, an average of 544,000-887,000 jobs will be lost on a yearly basis.
The findings of this report commissioned by the American Coalition for Clean Coal comes shortly after the US Electric Power Research Institute argued that, according to several studies and estimates carried out by its specialists, the country is quite likely to lose 54,000MW-69,000MW of power generating capacity in the not so distant future.
Apparently, this is partly due to the fact that the new air quality standards set in place by EPA will force numerous coal-based power plants into a rather early retirement.
As is to be expected, said early retirement of coal-fired power generating stations will also impact on the country's economy, which could lose roughly $275 billion in just 15 years' time (between 2010-2035), if EPA pushes forward with its plans.
Both these organizations (i.e. the US National Economic Research Associates and the US Electric Power Research Institute) believe that, should EPA agree to be more lenient when it comes to the official deadlines for implementing these new standards, said job and financial losses could be avoided.