Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime Obama adviser, said climate change is also a “litmus test” for numerous young voters who backed the president in the 2008 and 2012 elections.
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President Barack Obama’s decision to mandate steeper greenhouse gas cuts from power plants may be running into opposition in some states, but in Massachusetts fellow Democrats are hailing the move.
Ranked second highest in emissions, along with 10th in wind and 17th in solar, the U.S.is not exactly in the lead, but these new regulations should help us to catch up.
Administrator Gina McCarthy unveiled the revised Clean Power Plan at the White House today.
Earlier in June, the White House had announced more than 4 billion dollars in private-sector commitments and executive actions to scale up investment in clean energy innovation, including the launching of a new Clean Energy Impact Investment Center at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to make information about energy and climate programs at DOE and other government agencies accessible and more understandable to the public. In the past three decades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is putting those Americans at greater risk of landing in the hospital. The Obama administration first proposed the rule past year.
A reliability safety valve-to address any special circumstances where meeting the regulation could threaten or compromise grid reliability.
Topping those is a decision reached by Portland General Electric and the Oregon Public Utility Commission for PGE to stop burning coal at its Boardman plant in Eastern Oregon by 2020.
Reactions, not surprisingly, have been mixed.
Republicans seem to be resting their 2016 election hopes on maintaining a fact vacuum. The battle is expected to be fierce, but as Andrew Revkin points out, citing the Yale Climate Study, the majority of voters across party lines support regulating carbon emissions and expediting the growth of renewables.
“With strong but achievable standards for power plants, and customized goals for states to cut the carbon pollution that is driving climate change, the Clean Power Plan provides national consistency, accountability and a level playing field while reflecting each state’s energy mix”, says the summary of the plan. They call for a 32 percent reduction in power plant carbon dioxide pollution by 2030.
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Environmental groups in Indiana, though, are hailing the carbon rules as a victory, saying they will combat climate change and improve people’s health. Cap and trade also gives states some flexibility to decide when to run coal and gas plants in order to ensure steady power supplies, said Chuck Barlow, vice president of environmental policy and strategy at New Orleans-based power generator Entergy Corp. “They understand the risks of inaction as well as anyone else”.
