Company: NC
Filing Date: 2025-03-05
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0000789933-25-000006
Chunk: 72

Company: NACCO INDUSTRIES INC
Filing Date: 2025-03-05
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 72
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Congress has considered climate change legislation aimed at reducing GHG emissions, particularly from coal combustion by power plants. Enactment of laws and passage of regulations regarding GHG emissions at the federal or state level, or other actions to limit carbon dioxide emissions, such as opposition by environmental groups of coal-fired power plants, could result in electric generators switching from coal to other fuel sources or premature facility closures.

Congress continues to consider a variety of proposals to reduce GHG emissions from the combustion of coal and other fuels. These proposals include emission taxes, emission reductions, including carbon tax and cap-and-trade programs, and mandates or incentives to generate electricity by using renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power. Some states have established programs to reduce GHG emissions. Further, certain governmental agencies provide grants or other financial incentives to entities developing or selling alternative energy sources with lower levels of GHG emissions, which may lead to more competition from those entities.

The potential impact on us of future laws, regulations or other policies or circumstances will depend upon the degree to which any such laws, regulations or other policies or circumstances require electricity generators to diminish their reliance on coal as a fuel source. Complicating these matters further, over the last several decades, U.S. Administrations have increasingly relied on regulations and executive orders to implement environmental policies and objectives in the absence of Congressional agreement regarding new legislation. This condition, which creates instability and unpredictability of environmental regulations, seems likely to persist and could increase due to apparent polarization between the two main political parties. As a result, we and/or our customers, often must comply with and otherwise adapt to environmental regulations without assurance of their continued effect. We and/or our customers often do not have the ability to anticipate, or prepare in advance for, changes in regulatory approaches that may be implemented following a change in Administration. The SCOTUS’s recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo overturned the SCOTUS’s longstanding deferral to the applicable agency’s interpretation of ambiguous federal laws. We are unable to predict whether, or to what extent, this decision will alter the outcome of judicial reviews of current or future regulations. We do not know whether risks related to current and future regulations affecting us will be significantly mitigated by the decision in Loper Bright. 

In view of the significant uncertainty surrounding each of these factors, it is not possible for us to predict reasonably the impact that any such laws, regulations or other policies may have on our business, financial condition and results of operations. However, such