What changes to expect from Obama's final Clean Power Plan
Source: Reuters
Fri Jul 31, 2015 1:08am EDT
What changes to expect from Obama's final Clean Power Plan
WASHINGTON | BY VALERIE VOLCOVICI
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will unveil as soon as Monday the final version of a sweeping - and controversial - regulation to cut carbon emissions from the electricity sector.
In its initial version, the Clean Power Plan called for cutting the country's power plant emissions 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, setting different targets for each state.
The proposal is the signature piece of President Barack Obama’s climate change policy. White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said this week that the final rule will be "stronger in many ways than the proposed rule."
But the Clean Power Plan has been sharply criticized by the energy and manufacturing industries and some energy-producing states, and opponents have already vowed to challenge the regulation in court.
The final rule is expected to accommodate some of that opposition, as well as take into account feedback from over 4.3 million public comments. Among other things: The EPA is expected to push back the rule's start date by two years to 2022, according to a slide posted by the agency briefly on its website on Tuesday.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/31/us-usa-climatechange-epa-idUSKCN0Q50DD20150731
