Today President Obama will announce a new set of regulations aimed at salvaging his legacy as a progressive visionary cutting carbon emissions from US power plants and pushing the country toward a focus on renewable energy.
The plan is a tweaked—and much stricter—version of the Clean Power Plan, which was unveiled last year. More from WaPo:
The new plan sets a goal of cutting carbon pollution from power plants by 32 percent by the year 2030, compared with 2005 levels — a 9 percent jump from the previous target of 30 percent — while rewarding states and utility companies that move quickly to expand their investment in solar and wind power.Many states will face tougher requirements for lowering greenhouse-gas emissions under the revised plan. But state governments also will be given more time to meet their targets and considerably more flexibility in how they achieve their pollution-cutting goals, according to two senior officials knowledgeable about the rule. For the first time, the officials said, the plan also includes a “reliability safety valve” that can buy states additional time if needed to avoid disruptions in the power supply.
The White House kicked off its #ActOnClimate social media campaign promoting the new regulations this Saturday—and their video push looks pretty slick:
BREAKING: On Monday, President Obama will release the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan—the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change. If you agree that we can’t condemn our kids and grandkids to a planet that’s beyond fixing, share this video with your friends and family. It’s time to #ActOnClimate.
Posted by The White House on Saturday, August 1, 2015
I hate it when the Democrats make approachable, pretty presentations to make the case for big government lunacy.
The Administration’s push for more regulations won’t stop with its digital campaign. Obama is set to travel to various locations—including the Alaskan arctic—for a series of policy speeches, and in December is expected to propose an international treaty addressing carbon emissions. He will also meet with Pope Francis during the Pope’s September visit.
Republicans in Congress aren’t taking this lying down. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is spearheading a campaign to encourage state-level mutiny; attorneys general in 12 states are already preparing lawsuits, and at least 25 states are expected to get involved in legal challenges that will eventually end up before the Supreme Court.
More from the New York Times [emphasis mine]:
Leading the legal charge are states like Wyoming and West Virginia with economies that depend heavily on coal mining or cheap coal-fired electricity. Emissions from coal-fired power plants are the nation’s single largest source of carbon pollution, and lawmakers who oppose the rules have denounced them as a “war on coal.”“Once the E.P.A. finalizes this regulation, West Virginia will go to court, and we will challenge it,” Patrick Morrisey, the attorney general of West Virginia, said in an interview with a radio station in the state on Friday. “We think this regulation is terrible for the consumers of the state of West Virginia. It’s going to lead to reduced jobs, higher electricity rates, and really will put stress on the reliability of the power grid. The worst part of this proposal is that it’s flatly illegal under the Clean Air Act and the Constitution, and we intend to challenge it vigorously.”Although Obama administration officials have repeatedly said states will have flexibility to design their own plans, the final rules are explicitly meant to encourage the use of interstate cap-and-trade systems, in which states place a cap on carbon pollution and then create a market for buying permits or credits to pollute. The idea is that forcing companies to pay to pollute will drive them to cleaner sources of energy.
“Encourage” is key for “incentivize,” so look for the Administration to tie other, more politically-palatable trickle-down policy initiatives to this new plan.
Will the Obama Administration even acknowledge the existence of studies suggesting that climate change hysteria is beyond unnecessary? I think “no” is a safe bet.
We’ll keep you updated on this new policy push as it is rolled out.
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