Obama to unveil new climate plan
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama will today unveil the final version of his plan to tackle greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants as he aims to cement his legacy on climate change, a senior administration official said.
The revised Clean Power Plan will seek to slash carbon emissions from the power sector 32% from 2005 levels in 2030, a 9% increase over a previous proposal.
The regulation will usher in a sweeping transformation of the US electricity sector, encouraging an aggressive shift towards more renewable energy away from coal-fired electricity.
Industry groups and some lawmakers from states that have relied on coal-based energy have said they will challenge it in the courts and through Congressional manoeuvres, accusing the administration of a regulatory assault that would drive up energy prices.
The White House was defiant, and said the release of the plan was “the starting gun for an all-out climate push” by the president and his cabinet. “My administration will release the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan, the biggest, most important step we have ever taken to combat climate change,” Obama said in a video posted by the White House yesterday. He said there had been no federal limits to date on carbon pollution from power plants, the biggest source of US greenhouse gas emissions.
The plan will be central to the US’s contribution to a UN agreement to tackle climate change, in which the Obama administration has vowed to play a leadership role. Each state will be required to submit a plan to the Environmental Protection Agency next year, spelling out how it will meet an emission-cutting goal assigned to it. –