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Committee rejects bill to override federal coal-closure orders after utilities warn of costly litigation
Summary
Lawmakers debated a measure to require state-level approval for retirement or repowering of dispatchable generation. Utilities and Entergy warned the bill would trigger prolonged litigation tied to existing federal consent decrees; the committee voted the bill down.
The House Insurance & Commerce Committee on Monday declined to advance Senate Bill 596, a bill aimed at strengthening state control over the retirement or repowering of dispatchable electric generation.
Sponsor State Senator Matt McKee said the intent was to ensure Arkansas sets its own energy policy and preserves dispatchable, reliable power for economic development. McKee told the committee, “I think it's time that as a state, we did that.”
Utility witnesses, led by John Bethel of Entergy Arkansas, told the committee the bill would insert legal and regulatory uncertainty into long-running federal consent decrees and…
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