Washington (Platts)--25Feb2013/345 pm EST/2045 GMT

The head of a powerful industry group blasted President Barack Obama's perceived opposition to coal and his support of environmental regulations that he said have caused more than 200 coal-fired plants to shut down, accounting for a loss of roughly 38,000 MW.

Robert "Mike" Duncan, president and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said that new greenhouse gas regulations at the Environmental Protection Agency were shutting plants and costing American jobs.

"Today we have unelected bureaucrats at the EPA who have been overreaching in their powers and making it very difficult for baseline electricity, such as coal, to produce in this country," Duncan said on Sunday's edition of Platts Energy Week.

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Duncan criticized Obama's support for climate change action in his recent State of the Union address, which he said ignores market realities, and his calls for advances in energy efficiency, clean energy and energy independence without a mention of coal.

"This is a pattern that's occurring," Duncan said. "He specifically omits coal and that's very disappointing."

Duncan, who was named president of the coal group in August, is the former chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority and a former chairman of American Crossroads, a Republican fundraising group founded by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and former White House strategist Karl Rove.

Duncan said that EPA regulations, along with high costs and low natural gas prices, are hurting advances in new energy technology, particularly carbon sequestration.

"I would have liked to have moved faster on that, but we have disincentives in our government," he said.

Coal plants want to improve efficiency but, Duncan said, are required to meet "impossible standards," he said.

"We can solve this problem if the EPA would work with the industry," he said.

PROPOSAL PUTS FOCUS ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Kateri Callahan, president of Alliance to Save Energy, and Alex Laskey, president of Opower, a company that helps consumers pinpoint wasteful energy practices, discussed a proposal to double energy productivity by 2030.

Callahan said the effort would need a mix of federal dollars to states, new capital, modernizing the utility grid and transportation grid and more consumer education.

Laskey said that 57% of energy that enters the US economy is wasted and lost.

"There are huge opportunities for us to improve energy productivity in the country," Laskey said.

CONCERNS MORE DIVERSE AT THIS YEAR'S PLATTS OIL FORUM

During the show, Platts Associate Editorial Director Maurice Geller discussed the Platts Oil Forum in London, which served as a kickoff to International Petroleum Week.

"Last year sentiment was dominated by economics and geopolitics," Geller said. "While still factors, this year's views were more mixed, more nuanced."

Also, Platts Associate Editorial Director Robert Sharp discussed recent increases in gasoline prices, which he tied to increases in crude oil benchmarks and declines in production.

Platts Energy Week airs on Sundays in Washington on WUSA, a CBS affiliate, and in Houston on KUHT, a PBS affiliate, as well as on other PBS stations in the US. The program is also available on the web at www.plattsenergyweektv.com.

--Brian Scheid, brian_scheid@platts.com
--Edited by Jason Lindquist, jason_lindquist@platts.com

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