Clean Power Plan Opponents Not Ready To Go Down Without A Fight

President Obama recently unveiled a new rule to combat climate change by forcing state’s like Virginia to cut their carbon pollution. New York is a proud member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which is a cap-and-trade effort of Northeastern states to reduce carbon pollution across our region. The letter was written on behalf of West Virginia, which relies heavily on the coal industry for its economy, and Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Importantly, the Clean Power Plan does not require states to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to reducing carbon pollution. The company says it’s not economically viable to upgrade the plant to meet EPA regulations, so instead, it’s building an entirely new power plant right next door that will run on natural gas-which produces fewer air pollutants, including about half as much carbon dioxide.

The plan sets standards on carbon dioxide emissions from power plans for the first time, which organizers of the event say they are excited to support.

“We’re like everybody else”, Walters said.

After we have decimated the coal and oil industry, let’s go after the sun, which emits solar flares on a regular basis, and volcanoes, which emit far more toxins into the air than our gasoline engines.

Your August 5 editorial “EPA’s Clean Power Plan promotes the health of people and the planet” was entertaining.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The campaign to stop President Barack Obama’s sweeping emissions limits on power plants began taking shape Wednesday, as 16 states asked the government to put the rules on hold while a Senate panel moved to block them. Replacing coal with other fuel sources, primarily natural gas, wind and solar power, will lower U.S. carbon emissions, but it will come with a steep price tag.

What’s coming in the future, he predicts, is a “nightmare for the electric utility industry”.

Last year, the EPA gave states preliminary emission reduction targets. The Clean Power Plan will allow these companies to expand, add workers and fire up Wisconsin’s economy. If the state fails to develop a plan, a federal plan will be forced upon it. Mike Oles, organizing director for Hoosier Interfaith Power and Light, said he finds the governor’s response disappointing on many levels. These protections will ensure that our kids, our communities, and New York’s workforce are healthier, while also creating much-needed jobs, reducing energy costs, and fighting climate disruption.

“Ultimately if the rule is determined to be legal, if the rule is determined to be something that makes sense, we’re going to have to deal with that outcome”, Maasel said. There is also expectation that the US may announce a more comprehensive plan at the Paris conference.

The United States has been slow to react to climate change, but the benefits to the health of citizens and to the environment are worth the investment in the Clean Power Plan.

In the face of congressional gridlock, Obama’s plan, the final version of a proposal he first made in June 2014, represents the next best way to change the energy mix at home and demonstrate U.S. seriousness ahead of global climate talks later this year in Paris.