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No rush to go back to coal, Avista chairman tells chamber audience Monday Nov 14, 2016 at 4:17 PM Nov 14, 2016 at 6:12 PM Greg Stiles Mail Tribune @GregMTBusiness President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on rolling back many Obama administration energy initiatives, but many of the nation's energy producers have already turned the page, Avista Utilities Chairman Scott Morris told a Chamber of Medford/Jackson County gathering Monday. "Donald Trump ran on re-invigorating the fossil fuel markets," Morris said. "He saw that coal, particularly coal jobs in West Virginia and Kentucky, were under siege. He was going to focus on fossil fuels. His idea is that he wants to bring coal back into the energy mix. He's also very focused on continuing the fracking of the shale for both oil and natural gas." In essence, Morris said, the president-elect said he would dismantle much of the clean power plan the Obama administration put forward and pull out of the Paris climate change accords. "Do I think he's going to do all that? I really don't know," Morris said. Even so, many of the top utilities have transitioned to the future. "Some of the largest coal-powered electric utilities in the country — American Electric Power, Southern, Duke — have already retired 50 percent of their coal fleets," Morris said. "And they're not going to bring that back. While I do think there will a rebirth of some coal in the United States, I do still think natural gas, wind, solar and energy efficiency is really where the country is going to continue to go — with or without this war on coal or no war on coal." Simple economics favor a shift to natural gas Morris said. In a decade, the cost of a therm of natural gas has plummeted from $1.30 to 30 cents. "Even though President-elect Trump wants coal to be a big part of the United States energy future, until natural gas goes up, it's actually more cost-effective to burn natural gas than coal," Morris said. CEOs willingly spent the money to replace aging plants and retire older equipment, he said. "As an industry, the CEOs don't have much of an intention to go back." In the near term, political expediency might emphasize restoring coal jobs, he said. "But for much of the generation, we're down the road, the industry has shifted to more a gas and green future.  If you add in energy efficiency, the industry is strong and well-positioned for whatever happens. The federal clean power plan will probably go away, but where all the green and carbon level action has been has been at the state level in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and many states have done some amazing things around renewable (energy) portfolio standards. He noted the Oregon Legislature is poised to enact a cap-and-trade bill that would cap carbon emissions and trade emissions credits among businesses. If capping and trading revolves around local distribution gas companies, such as Avista, he said his utility will push to ensure gas remains a good value for customers. "If a lot of money comes from that cap and trade, we would ask at least some of that money goes to carbon reduction," Morris said. "Often, money is raised and it ends up offsetting other things in the budget. I would encourage that if it happens here in Oregon that some of that money would actually go to carbon reduction." — Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GregMTBusiness, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31