Trump Power Plant Plan Will Significantly Increase CO2 Pollution
Aug 22, 2018 by Casey Coates Danson
The Trump administration is expected on Tuesday to propose a major rollback of the Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s signature climate policy.
The replacement will relax rules for coal-fired plants and will very likely increase air pollution and planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions.
The new plan, as the Washington Post reported, would allow states to set their own coal emission standards or even opt-out altogether, and provides companies incentives to ensure coal plants operate longer. It’s a clear contrast to the Obama plan, which was aimed at phasing out coal and transitioning to cleaner power sources to avoid dangerous climate change.
The Trump rule “is projected to release at least 12 times the amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere compared with the Obama rule over the next decade,” the Post reported. To illustrate how different the plans are, by 2030, the Trump proposal would cut carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 0.7 to 1.5 percent, or the equivalent of taking 2.7 million to 5.3 million cars off the road. In contrast, Obama’s initiative had a goal of slashing CO2 emissions around 19 percent in the same time frame, or the equivalent of taking 75 million cars off the road.
“These numbers tell the story, that they really remain committed not to do anything to address greenhouse gas emissions. They show not merely indifference to climate change, but really, opposition to doing anything about climate change,” Jose Goffman, executive director of Harvard Law School’s Environmental Law Program and an architect of the Obama-era policy, told the Post.
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Only 16 states have an environmental Impact Review process for state actions and their counties. Without one on place it is difficult to have a state take up the slack when the feds leave the scene.