Ohio Senator working with electric cooperatives to fight proposed rule from EPA.

Ohio Senator, Sherrod Brown and Ohio’s electric cooperatives are working together to fight a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency. The rule New Source Performance Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units is meant to combat greenhouse gas emissions, but goes too far, according to Brown. He says Ohio co-ops came to him about the rule and he’s encouraging the EPA to revise it with input from within the industry, including the workers. Patrick O’Loughlin, president and CEO of Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives and Buckeye Power, Inc., says consumers across the country depend on electric cooperatives for reliable and affordable electricity. He adds the EPA rule would create “unrealistic mandates” that would threaten the ability for them to meet that need, he added.