Courtesy of The New York Times:
In the strongest action ever taken in the United States to combat climate change, President Obama will unveil on Monday a set of environmental regulations devised to sharply cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s power plants and ultimately transform America’s electricity industry.
The rules are the final, tougher versions of proposed regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency announced in 2012 and 2014. If they withstand the expected legal challenges, the regulations will set in motion sweeping policy changes that could shut down hundreds of coal-fired power plants, freeze construction of new coal plants and create a boom in the production of wind and solar power and other renewable energy sources.
“Climate change is not a problem for another generation, not anymore,” Mr. Obama said in a video posted on Facebook at midnight Saturday. He called the new rules “the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change.”
The most aggressive of the regulations requires the nation’s existing power plants to cut emissions 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, an increase from the 30 percent target proposed in the draft regulation.
That new rule also demands that power plants use more renewable sources of energy like wind and solar power. While the proposed rule would have allowed states to lower emissions by transitioning from plants fired by coal to plants fired by natural gas, which produces about half the carbon pollution of coal, the final rule is intended to push electric utilities to invest more quickly in renewable sources, raising to 28 percent from 22 percent the share of generating capacity that would come from such sources.
Well holy crap! I guess we should start referring to Obama as the "Environmentalist-in-Chief."
People have been complaining for decades that politicians have been much too slow to respond to the dangers facing this planet due to man made climate change, now it looks like we finally have a President who is willing to tackle the problem head on.
Man am I glad I voted for this guy!
Man am I glad I voted for this guy!
ReplyDelete-Gryph
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+1001
I'm thrilled I voted for President Obama two times
And yet President Obama is pushing the blatant corporate giveaway TPP to an obscene and inexplicable degree... and I don't know of a single environmental protection organization that doesn't have major concerns about how this would trash existing international environmental protections if such protections interfere with unbridled corporate profits.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama is also still pussyfooting around the Keystone pipeline agreement. He has NOT nixed it. I don't take that as a good sign.
Not to mention allowing Shell to start Arctic drilling!!! He is also allowing drilling off the east coast.
So before you start kissing his ass over what an environmental savior he is, I suggest examining Obama's whole record. It is at best mixed and at worst filled with anti-environment, pro-polluters actions that put the lie to any claim of being truly green.
Lots of failures and disappointments in my work. But I celebrate every success and every step toward a long term goal.
DeleteI view our wonderful President the same way.
On balance, his record will be astounding. It already is.
Liz ~ There are lots of failures and frustrations every day in my work, also, causing my mantra to be "Two steps forward and one step back is still progress."
DeleteMethinks President Obama is a chess player and he realized early on this would be a loooooong game, which he has artfully played.
President Obama is not a chess player any more than any politician who knows which side his bread is buttered on.. He wants the TPP. Period. He KNOWS what it will do to the environment, not to mention every single other health benefit and protection, when profit-making corporations whose only concern is making money for shareholders are in charge of everything -- which the TPP does for them. Obama knows that, and he doesn't care. He's PUSHING for it. There is nothing the slightest bit strategic about that.
DeletePresident Obama, is likely trying to find a balance between going total Green, and preserving jobs and industry.
ReplyDeleteMillions of Americans still rely on coal for electricity, and that transition will take time to go to more sustainable alternatives.
Oh, and O/T, TODAY is the day that some notable Palin Worshipers have decided that the drug addled idiot is going to declare for President.
If she doesn't, then it must be August 29th, cuz that's when we found out she was a pitbull with lipstick.
But if the 29th isn't any good, then what about October 5?
10/5/2011 was a day that stabbed the idiots like a dagger, and most of us know that $arah will do the same thing again.
Freedom from work or responsibility is what she has now, and no way is Coward Queen Esther going to debate on the issues.
Tick Tock $arah
The TPP permits no middle ground. It's a complete corporate sellout that even supersedes local environmental protection laws.
DeleteRethuglicans and the coal lobby will fight it tooth and nail because they do NOT give a shit if they doom future generations to an unfixable planet.
ReplyDelete~Canuck~
...3...2...1...Lobbyists, start your engines, er, whining, er, lobbying.
ReplyDeleteOur man Bamz is showing some big-balled fearlessness in the home stretch, and thank for goodness for that. I thought he'd lost a lot of momentum in that first year trying to foster cooperation with those prick Republicans. Now, it seems even he's hip they have no mission but to screw him, and he finding every means he can use to screw them right back. Bravo sir, you wear it well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he was too much of a gentleman to realize the Opposition (says it all) was nihilistic re government in general & was only there to stop the uppity n**gger.
DeleteIt took far too long for him to realize it, but better late than never.
Oh, he's known it all along.
DeleteHere Are The Facts You Need To Fight The Republican Lies About Obama’s Clean Power Plant Plan
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2015/08/03/facts-fight-republican-lies-obamas-clean-power-plant-plan.html
But Mr President, crickets about animal agriculture--the number one cause of methane emissions that create climathe change, the number 1 cause of deforestation, ocean pollution and drought? Why are you ignoring the elephant in the room? See Cowspiracy if you don't know about this...
ReplyDeleteI support this and will do anything to help. Calling WH today to learn how.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone remember the op-ed our idiot ex quitter governor wrote for the Washington Post in 2008/09? supporting the coal industry? It was outrageous given the state of Alaska was attempting to create a gas line and at that time. She clearly was reaching for any bar, no matter how low to keep in the spotlight. And yes, it also was a total scam as was Sarah Palin’s “energy expert” moniker. What a bad governor, she was willing as ever to play both sides of any issue just to remain relevant. And now she is a drug-addled grifter giving “interviews” in a mall. Who is the real Sarah Palin?
ReplyDeleteThe more I see this man accomplish, the more I wish I could vote for him again. Imagine if he had support from both the house and the senate?
ReplyDeleteThis is a big step in the right direction. We can't undo what's been done, but it'll create a lot of new jobs in a booming industry. I love how he framed this, using science and facts to support this move. It'll be an uphill climb, because of big oil, but it's worth the fight.