INITIAL BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE GRID EXPERTS RIC O’CONNELL, BRENDAN PIERPONT, BENJAMIN F. HOBBS, JESSE JENKINS, BRENDAN KIRBY, KENNETH J. LUTZ, MICHAEL MILLIGAN, MICHAEL O’BOYLE, and MATTHEW SCHUERGER IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS

The document contends that the U.S. power grid is already transitioning away from coal toward renewables, storage, and flexible natural gas due to market forces, and that the EPA's Rule aligns with these trends. It argues that modern resources like battery storage and flexible gas plants provide better operational reliability than aging coal plants. The brief asserts that the Rule provides sufficient time for resource procurement and includes flexibility mechanisms to protect the grid during periods of stress.

• Coal-fired generation in the U.S. has seen a significant long-term decline, dropping from producing 45 percent of electricity in 2010 to 16 percent in 2023, primarily because it cannot compete with the efficiency of natural gas and the low costs of renewables.
• The average age of the operating coal fleet is 47.2 years, exceeding the reasonable expected operating life of 40 years, which increases maintenance costs and reduces the ability of these plants to provide reliability services.
• Modern grid resources, specifically energy storage and flexible gas-fired generation, offer superior dispatchability and flexibility compared to coal-fired steam generators, which have slow ramp rates and long startup times.
• Several U.S. grid regions have already successfully transitioned to reliable operations with little to no coal; New York has operated without coal since 2020, and New England states have operated with 0-2% coal generation since 2019.
• The Rule provides a sufficient timeframe for grid adjustment, allowing plants to continue operating until 2032 if owners choose to retire them, which the authors argue is ample time to plan and procure replacement resources.
• The EPA incorporated specific reliability safeguards into the Rule, including the Remaining Useful Life and Other Factors (RULOF) framework, a short-term reliability mechanism, and a reliability assurance mechanism.
• EPA's use of the Integrated Planning Model (IPM) for resource adequacy analysis indicated that the projected impacts on the resource mix are modest and that institutional mechanisms are sufficient to preserve resource adequacy.

APA

O’Connell, R., Pierpont, B., Hobbs, B. F., Jenkins, J., Kirby, B., Lutz, K. J., Milligan, M., O’Boyle, M., & Schuerger, M. (2024). INITIAL BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE GRID EXPERTS RIC O’CONNELL, BRENDAN PIERPONT, BENJAMIN F. HOBBS, JESSE JENKINS, BRENDAN KIRBY, KENNETH J. LUTZ, MICHAEL MILLIGAN, MICHAEL O’BOYLE, and MATTHEW SCHUERGER IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS. Energy Innovation. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Grid-Reliability-Brief.pdf

Chicago

O’Connell, Ric, Brendan Pierpont, Benjamin F. Hobbs, Jesse Jenkins, Brendan Kirby, Kenneth J. Lutz, Michael Milligan, Michael O’Boyle, and Matthew Schuerger. INITIAL BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE GRID EXPERTS RIC O’CONNELL, BRENDAN PIERPONT, BENJAMIN F. HOBBS, JESSE JENKINS, BRENDAN KIRBY, KENNETH J. LUTZ, MICHAEL MILLIGAN, MICHAEL O’BOYLE, and MATTHEW SCHUERGER IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS. Energy Innovation, 2024. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Grid-Reliability-Brief.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=O’Connell |first1=Ric |last2=Pierpont |first2=Brendan |last3=Hobbs |first3=Benjamin F. |last4=Jenkins |first4=Jesse |last5=Kirby |first5=Brendan |last6=Lutz |first6=Kenneth J. |last7=Milligan |first7=Michael |last8=O’Boyle |first8=Michael |last9=Schuerger |first9=Matthew |title=INITIAL BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE GRID EXPERTS RIC O’CONNELL, BRENDAN PIERPONT, BENJAMIN F. HOBBS, JESSE JENKINS, BRENDAN KIRBY, KENNETH J. LUTZ, MICHAEL MILLIGAN, MICHAEL O’BOYLE, and MATTHEW SCHUERGER IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS |publisher=Energy Innovation |date=17 October 2024 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Grid-Reliability-Brief.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{oconnell2024initial, author = {O’Connell, Ric and Pierpont, Brendan and Hobbs, Benjamin F. and Jenkins, Jesse and Kirby, Brendan and Lutz, Kenneth J. and Milligan, Michael and O’Boyle, Michael and Schuerger, Matthew}, title = {{INITIAL BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE GRID EXPERTS RIC O’CONNELL, BRENDAN PIERPONT, BENJAMIN F. HOBBS, JESSE JENKINS, BRENDAN KIRBY, KENNETH J. LUTZ, MICHAEL MILLIGAN, MICHAEL O’BOYLE, and MATTHEW SCHUERGER IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/Grid-Reliability-Brief.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }