The Obama administration released sweeping environmental regulations today. The first-ever nationwide standards to regulate emissions from power plants are even more ambitious than expected.
The final version of Clean Power Plan uses state-by-state targets to reduce emissions by 32% by the year 2030, up from 30% in the draft version. And there is more emphasis on and incentives to transition from coal to renewables instead of coal to natural gas. But the Clean Power Plan also gives states more time to comply by pushing the start date back from 2020 to 2022. Speaking at the White House today, President Obama accused his critics of playing politics.
"Criticisms you hear about EPA’s carbon rules are simply an excuse for in activity. They’ll claim this plan is a war on coal to scare up votes," Obama said.
But under the Clean Power Plan, coal will take a huge hit. According to the Energy Information Administration, the regulations will likely reduce coal production nation-wide, especially in the west.