Nationwide plan to reduce greenhouse gases at power plants
IN the final stretch of his term, President Barack Obama unveiled a major climate change plan over the weekend that aims to largely reduce greenhouse gas emissions at coal-burning power plants through the next 15 years.
“Today after working with states and cities and power companies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is setting the first-ever nationwide standards to end the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from power plants,” Obama said at a White House event on Tuesday, August 4. “Washington is starting to catch up with the vision of the rest of the country.”
The proposal, entitled the Clean Power Plan, will force states to address climate change as a real and serious issue affecting the entire nation.
The major plan is the final version of regulations by the EPA, which Obama called “the biggest most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change,” in a White House video on social media. “We are the first generation to feel the impacts of climate change, and the last generation to be able to do something about it.”
Under the plan, the federal government will require states that rely on coal-fired power plants to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards, based on their individual energy consumption. The plan also includes an incentive program for states to get a head start on meeting federal standards on the early deployment of renewable energy and low-income energy efficiency.
“Power plants are the single biggest source of harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change,” Obama said. “Until now, there have been no federal limits to the amount of carbon pollution plants dump in the air.”
California, for instance, has led the nation with similar tough regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions warming up the planet. Officials said Monday that their existing climate change programs—practically eliminating coal from energy systems—have put the state on course to meet with EPA standards, years ahead of schedule.
Earlier this year, California Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order that would continue the low-emissions trend, setting a target of a 40 percent reduction (from 1990 levels) by 2030.
“[The Clean Power Plan] is going to expand the markets that California policies have worked to establish,” said Mary Solecki, western states advocate for Environmental Entrepreneurs.
The new climate change regulations are expected to cut the electricity sector’s greenhouse gas emissions 32% below 2005 levels by 2030, according to EPA estimates. The rules, issued under the federal Clean Air Act, give each state its own pollution reduction goal and allow each local government to choose the measures it will use to comply.
Solar and wind industry trade groups said the Clean Power Plan could foster more regional cooperation, with great potential for some states to develop more renewable energy projects to trade the emissions reductions with their neighbors.
“The EPA rules are going to drive a lot of renewable energy investments in the rest of the country, including Western states that border California,” said Tom Darin, senior director of Western state policy for the American Wind Energy Association.
Obama’s climate proposal already faces fierce opposition from lawmakers and Midwestern and Southern industry groups that rely heavily on coal. They say regulations will bring job losses and economic harm. Critics also said that the plan will bring “unwelcome increases in electricity prices.”
“It will make the cost of electricity higher for millions of Americans,” said Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at the Freedom Partners Summit in California.
Even before the rule was announced, many states announced plans to fight it, including some vows to take the administration to court over the new rules. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged states not to comply with the plan in a letter to all 50 governors.
“This plan is all pain and no gain,” said Luke Popovich, vice president of communications for the National Mining Association. “That’s why state leaders across the country are coming to the same conclusion–that we should not sacrifice our power system to an unworkable plan built on a faulty interpretation of the law.”
In a conference call with the press, Gina McCarthy, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said the plan would cost a total of $8.4 billion, with total benefits expected to be $34 billion to $54 billion.
“Some special interest critics will tell you that it can’t be done,” McCarthy said on Sunday, August 2. “They’ll say we have to focus on the economy at the expense of the environment. They’ll tell you EPA’s plan will turn the lights off and send utility bills through the roof but they are wrong.”
In 2012, coal supplied 37 percent of nationwide electricity; compared to 30 percent from natural gas, 19 percent from nuclear power plants, 7 percent from hydropower sources such as dams and 5 percent from renewable sources such as wind and solar, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
A senior administration official said that Obama is likely to make the case that climate change is a “moral, economic and national security obligation” in the coming months before the last quarter of his presidency.
Expecting a tough fight, the White House will launch an “all-out climate push” led by the President and cabinet officials to widely market the plan. In the coming weeks, Obama will also travel to Nevada to speak at the National Clean Energy Summit and later become the first sitting President to go to the Alaskan Arctic. (With reports from CNN and Los Angeles Times)
