Obama's Clean Power Plan, hailed as "biggest step that any single president has made to curb the carbon pollution that is fueling climate change” by White House advisor Brian Deese, will curb America's dependency on highly-polluting coal power and catalyze the transition to renewable energy. Despite a wave of Republican opposition that fears fiscal costs, a panoply of businesses and investors have signed their support for the measure, including Trillium Assets Management which manages $2.2 billion in assets.
The final rules are more ambitious in long term goals but more lenient in short term goals that previous versions. For example, The final rules propose a 32% cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from the initial proposal of 30%. However states will only have to comply by 2022 rather than 2020 as originally proposed, and will be able submit their plans on meeting the targets by 2018 instead of 2017. The plan represents the first federal limit on the amount of pollution that power plants can be dumping into the air.
The rules also give an explicit boost to wind and solar power, to dismay of the natural gas industry. The Solar Energy Industries Association said the rules are "historic" and "critically needed."
The final rules are more ambitious in long term goals but more lenient in short term goals that previous versions. For example, The final rules propose a 32% cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from the initial proposal of 30%. However states will only have to comply by 2022 rather than 2020 as originally proposed, and will be able submit their plans on meeting the targets by 2018 instead of 2017. The plan represents the first federal limit on the amount of pollution that power plants can be dumping into the air.
The rules also give an explicit boost to wind and solar power, to dismay of the natural gas industry. The Solar Energy Industries Association said the rules are "historic" and "critically needed."
