This week the Obama Administration released a final version of the Clean Power Plan, giving unprecedented power to the EPA with aim to cut carbon emissions by 32% by 2030.
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Central to the Clean Power Plan is a 32 per cent cut in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.
Coal accounted for 43 percent of electricity in Illinois in 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, second only to the 48 percent produced by nuclear plants.
As the world looks towards striking a much-needed climate deal at the Paris summit this December, the contributions of top polluters like the United States, China and India come under close scrutiny.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Wednesday joined with officials in 15 other states in asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for an immediate stay of its Clean Power Plan pending the outcome of a planned legal challenge to the rule. The plan also allows states additional time to submit their final plans – two additional years and a compliance averaging period beginning in 2022 rather than 2020.
Each state is now responsible for developing a plan to reduce power plant carbon emissions.
This new plan is also frustrating for leaders in at least 16 states who will face tougher carbon dioxide reduction targets than they originally planned under the president’s previous proposal.
The EPA’s plan will provide flexibility for states in regards to how they meet the new standards and offer incentives for early-adopters. “The valuable feedback we received means the final Clean Power Plan is more ambitious yet more achievable, so states can customize plans to achieve their goals in ways that make sense for their communities, businesses and utilities”. We said then: “Christie cares little about the environment or green energy, although he will occasionally wave the New Jersey banner on issues particularly important here, as in his opposition to offshore drilling”.
Under the President’s order, states have been given until 2018 to present individual strategies for reducing dependency on coal-generated power.
Obama rejected criticism that his plan would increase energy bills for Americans, hurt the poor, and cost jobs. He is determined that this is the moment when change starts in America.
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Many states, like Wyoming, West Virginia and Kentucky, that are heavily reliant on coal mining fear their economies would suffer and people would lose jobs.
