New York Mayor Calls for Support of Climate Action

Generating power from coal emits nearly twice the carbon of natural gas-fired power, so ramping it down (or installing pricy pollution controls) is a key lever to pull, especially for seven states that get 70 percent of their power from coal: Kentucky, West Virginia, Wyoming, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, and Utah. It is the biggest piece of his drive to create a legacy and go down in history as the first United States president to take comprehensive action against climate change by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.

The Clean Power Plan is expected to be finalized soon, and two new reports refute opponents’ claims that the plan will increase electric bills for Ohioans. But states will be given more time and flexibility to meet the targets, which vary state-by-state.

“It is arguably the most influential energy modeling tool in the U.S.”, she said. He also expects the EPA to facilitate that emissions trading by dropping requirements for them to strike legal agreements – a few of which would require legislative approval – between states. Assuming utilities can cut demand for power, he said, is like assuming oil refineries should support mass transit and bike lanes under a hypothetical future regulation for their sector – a regulatory stretch that would have been unlikely to end well for EPA in court.

Nevada has also seen homeowners install rooftop solar panels at a rapid pace, and several large-scale solar plants that are in the works are helping the cause.

The second factor is that challenges have to be filed no later than 60 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register, and no earlier than the publication date.

“The four building blocks were never and should never have been considered as what states need to do”, Colburn said. There are other ways of doing even better, such as a more ambitious deployment of energy efficiency. The proposal also underestimated the potential for energy efficiency, the cheapest source of new electricity generation. We will finalise a stronger rule.

Efficiency advocates have long argued that EPA’s 1.5-percent-per-year estimate was lower than the efficiency opportunities available to states.

Each state has been assigned a target carbon reduction, but the percentages don’t tell the whole story. Governors of Indiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana have all said they plan to defy EPA that way, as reported by a McConnell spokesman.

It sets state-by-state targets for reducing carbon emissions with flexible outlines for how they could be achieved, such as investment in renewable energy.

Buzz ahead of the EPA release suggested that the targets for carbon reduction will be even higher than the 30 percent that was initially proposed. It’s a move that could increase how much renewable power the EPA believes individual states can add to their electricity mix.

Steve Corneli, senior vice president for sustainability strategy and policy for NRG Energy, also criticized the proposed schedule, predicting it could actually undercut the CPP’s goals.

When we look at all the costs involved in being able to maintain farms that produce the food that we eat, if climate change continues, it will become virtually impossible for them to stay in business and operate properly. Instead, the interim deadline will be pushed back to 2018 and the final to 2022, the Times said. Under this scenario, the amount of renewable generation the agency will assume states can reach will be based on what is “technically achievable” in a certain region, a play to the trans-border flow of electricity that has developed around renewable energy. While the details may change when the final regulations are released next month, right now the grid operator said a state-based compliance program would wind up costing 40% more and would be more disruptive to the region’s 14-state grid. EPA will issue a federal implementation plan for states that do not submit their own plans. In fact, our analysis of 12 states found that they were already in a good position to meet power sector emissions standards using existing policies and infrastructure.

Reporters Rod Kuckro and Emily Holden contributed.