WASHINGTON, D.C. - FERC approved PJM’s compliance filing for the Minimum Office Price Rule (MOPR) today, moving forward with the disastrous rule that will block most new renewable energy resources from the PJM capacity market. The MOPR requires new renewable generation added under ambitious state climate policies to offer into PJM’s capacity market at artificially elevated prices, making it difficult for cheaper wind and solar electricity to displace more expensive coal and unnecessary gas resources from the market.
Because of this, the MOPR will nullify most state incentives for renewable energy resources and require consumers to buy fossil-fuel capacity that they neither want nor need. Energy policy experts predict that the MOPR will cost the Midwest, Appalachia, and Mid-Atlantic almost $10 billion over the next decade and increase dangerous fossil fuel pollution in low-income communities and communities of color. Due to these harsh economic and public health impacts, many states that ordinarily participate in the PJM capacity market have begun to seriously evaluate whether to fully or partially withdraw from it. Today’s approval increases the odds that states will leave the market, and lead to its eventual collapse.
In response to the order, Mary Anne Hitt, the Director of National Campaigns at the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“FERC’s approval of PJM’s compliance filing today is another step toward the dissolution of the PJM capacity market, and it’s all thanks to the FERC majority’s reckless attempt to force climate conscious states to buy dirty, expensive fossil fuel electricity. The MOPR is a clear overstep of federal authority into state decisions, and judging from the reaction FERC has received from the states, it’s more likely than not that states will leave the market rather than entangle themselves any further with fossil fuel pollution. We will fight the MOPR order, but the die may have already been cast for states intent on leaving PJM.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.