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E.P.A. Announces Repeal of Clean Power Plan
In late August, Smart Dissent discussed the destruction of the Environmental Protection Agency occurring behind closed door which will endanger our world forever. Then earlier this month we detailed several additional ways the EPA is doing the opposite of their mission and destroying our environment and future.
Yesterday, a huge hammer was dropped as long feared:
The Trump administration announced Monday that it would take formal steps to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature policy to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants....
The Clean Power Plan was finalized in 2015 and sought to push states to move away from coal in favor of sources of electricity that produce fewer carbon emissions. Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is a very bad person.
Killing the regulation has been a high priority for Mr. Pruitt, who as attorney general of Oklahoma sued to overturn it in court.
Eliminating the Clean Power Plan makes it less likely the United States can fulfill its promise as part of the Paris climate agreement to ratchet down emissions that are warming the planet and contributing to heat waves and sea-level rise.
Coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants are responsible for about one-third of America’s carbon dioxide emissions. When the Clean Power Plan was unveiled in 2015, it was expected to cut power sector emissions 32 percent by 2030, relative to 2005. While many states are already shifting away from coal power for economic reasons, experts say scrapping the rule could slow that transition.
The fight will only intensify from here, pitting corporate profits against the interests of every living and future living being on earth, human and not.
Environmental groups and several states plan to challenge the repeal proposal in federal courts, arguing against Mr. Pruitt’s move on both scientific and economic grounds.
Jody Freeman, director of the environmental law program at Harvard Law School said...the Clean Power Plan repeal signals the Trump administration is putting its thumb on the scale in favor of fossil fuels. “You see a pretty powerful message. Disavow any effort to control greenhouse gases in the power sector, and instead, intervene in the market to promote coal. It’s a wow,” she said.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/climate/clean-power-plan.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/climate/trump-climate-change.html