EPA still will give each state a numerical target for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants. Contrast that to a state like West Virginia, where 95 percent of the energy comes from coal plants, and you can see how some states will have to change their entire economies to meet the plan’s mandates. Depending which path Kentucky takes to comply, the state will have to reduce carbon emissions by either 30 or 40 percent. “This is hugely important and visionary leadership”. Obama touted it as a bold step to slow climate change, while opponents said it was federal overreach that will raise prices for electricity consumers. President Obama’s leadership by example is essential for bringing other key countries on board and securing a universal, durable and meaningful agreement in Paris in December. It is responsible for more than a third of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. And we are the first generation, as President Obama rightly said yesterday, to put an end to global poverty.
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Declaring climate change the greatest threat facing the world, Obama said the regulation requiring the power sector to cut its emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 would reduce Americans’ energy bills and improve the health of vulnerable populations nationwide.
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To reach that national goal, each state needs to do its part, and every state has a different mission. He added that “If we don’t do it nobody will. America leads the way forward… that’s what this plan is about”. His Clean Power Plan says it would prevent thousands of premature deaths, create jobs, and much more. We will work with state and federal regulators to ensure that our actions are consistent with Michigan’s energy strategy. Leaders from coal-rich states need to persuade their residents of the urgent need to pursue alternative energy sources, not bow to the demands of energy lobbies. While many environmentalists agree, his new plan will no doubt be challenged in the Republican Congress and in the courts. According to their press release, they have already worked on fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles; access to solar energy for low-income Americans; and cutting methane emissions from oil and gas systems, landfills, coal mining, and agriculture. However, the Energy Information Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, says the U.S. holds some of the largest recoverable reserves of coal on the planet.
