From data reports provided to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), about 16 gigawatts of generating capacity will be retired in 2015, of which nearly 13 gigawatts is coal-fired. The coal-fired capacity will be retired primarily because of EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which requires coal- and oil-fired electric generators to meet stricter emissions standards by incorporating emissions control technologies or retire the generators. Most of the retiring coal capacity (8 gigawatts) is in the Appalachian region–Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Indiana—where job losses have already occurred. [ i ]
