Obama Sends ‘Memo To America’ On Climate Change

Obama Sends ‘Memo To America’ On Climate Change

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/08/02/3687076/white-house-announces-final-carbon-rule/

Early Sunday morning, the White House shared a video message narrated by President Obama that announced the Monday release of the final version of the Clean Power Plan. Under the plan, the EPA will adopt a rule that regulates carbon pollution from existing power plants for the first time, and in the video, Obama called it “the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change.” Compared to the proposed rule, the new final version cuts more carbon pollution from the power sector, does it with more renewable energy and less natural gas, while providing more flexibility along the way to states trying to meet their targets. The final version of the regulation, according to a senior administration official, will actually reduce power sector carbon pollution 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. This is more ambitious than the 30 percent reduction over the same period in the proposed rule. In the proposed rule, renewable energy generation capacity was expected to be 22 percent in 2030. In the final rule, that share is projected to be 28 percent. Instead of the plan leading to a significant, early shift to natural gas, the projection for gas-fired power plant generation will instead flatten to a business-as-usual trendline. The senior administration official said that this would largely be driven by a Clean Energy Incentive Program which would reward faster renewable energy development. States will get credits for electricity generated in 2020 and 2021 by renewable energy projects that begin construction right after they submit their compliance plans. It also awards double the credits for energy efficiency projects in low-income communities. The proposed plan’s structure will remain largely the same as proposed. By 2030, each state must meet a certain emissions reduction target, custom-tailored to their current energy mix. The EPA does not implement a top-down solution across the country to cut emissions, or force specific coal plants to close. Every state can meet its targets however it wants — closing old coal plants, building more renewables, increasing energy efficiency, or working with other states to balance emissions and cuts through market-based systems like the cap-and-trade model already being used by the RGGI states in the Northeast. The administration projects that the final rule’s shift to energy efficiency and renewable energy will drop the average American electricity bill $85 a year by 2030, …