Obama orders steeper greenhouse gas cuts from US power plants

• 9 years ago (2015-08-03)
• David Flin

North America 1021

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US President Obama has announced that he will be imposing stronger greenhouse gas cuts on US power plants, setting up an inevitable confrontation in the courts with energy producers and Republican-led states. The cuts form the core of President Obama’s plan to drastically reduce overall US emissions. However, it will be Obama’s successor who will need to implement the plan.

Opponents to the plan have said that they plan to sue the government, and have asked the courts to block the rule temporarily. A number of states have said that they will not comply with the cuts.

It has been estimated that the new emissions limits will cost $8.4 billion annually by 2030. The precise price won’t be clear until states decide how they will achieve their targets.

The plan imposes stricter CO2 limits on states than had been expected; a 32 per cent cut by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. It had been expected that the maximum limit would involve a 30 per cent cut. Obama’s plan has become a point of controversy in the 2016 presidential race, with Hillary Clinton voicing her strong support for the plan and criticising her Republican opponents for failing to offer a credible alternative. She said: “It’s a good plan, and as President, I’d defend it.”

Marco Rubio, a Republican Senator for the state of Florida, said that the plan would result in catastrophic increases in electricity bills, while former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said that the rule was “irresponsible and overreaching, taking power from the states.”

Obama’s rule assigns customised targets to each state, then leaves it up to the state to determine how to meet them. If states refuse to comply, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to impose its own plan. The administration said that the EPA would release a model federal plan that states could choose to adopt immediately.

Another key change to the initial proposal marks a major shift for Obama on natural gas, which the President has championed as a “bridge fuel” whose growing use can help the USA move from coal while increasing renewable energy capacity. The final version aims to keep the share of natural gas in the country’s power mix at current levels.

Under the final rule, states will also have an additional two years – until 2022 – to comply, a response to complaints that earlier proposals had deadlines that were too tight. In an attempt to encourage earlier action, the federal government plans to offer credits to states that boost renewable sources in 2020 and 2021. States could store these credits to offset emitted after the compliance period starts in 2022.