Americans stand up for Clean Power Plan, healthier air, stable climate

Media Contacts

Trump administration attempts to dismantle another effective climate policy

Environment America

Today, the Trump administration is holding its one and only public hearing on the proposed rollback of the Clean Power Plan, which would dismantle America’s only federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants. Environment America is joining citizens from around the country to oppose this dangerous proposal, and plans to deliver thousands of petition signatures in support of the Clean Power Plan by the end of the comment period on October 31, 2018.

“It makes absolutely no sense to dismantle our best climate policies, especially as the impacts of climate change become more frequent and severe,” said Environment America’s global warming senior director, Andrea McGimsey. “Since the 1850s, our country has emitted massive amounts of man-made, global warming pollution from burning fossil fuels. It wasn’t until 2015 that the Obama administration put in place the Clean Power Plan to finally ratchet down emissions from our power plants. Going backwards now would be a terrible mistake.”

The goal of the Clean Power Plan was to stave off the worst impacts of global warming by cutting carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030. This latest rollback is one of a series of attempts by the Trump administration to weaken the nation’s most effective climate policies.

We’re already seeing some of the worst impacts of climate change. Last month, Hurricane Florence dumped more than half a year’s rainfall on much of the coast of North Carolina, destroying up to 10,000 homes and claiming at least 48 lives. In 2017, Hurricane Harvey poured 50 inches of rain on Houston. These two storms are the wettest hurricanes on record. And as long as carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases keep warming our climate, scientists predict that the hurricanes will keep getting worse.

But instead of taking stronger action, the Trump administration is going backward, holding hearings just last week on repealing the Clean Cars Standards, revoking states’ rights to set stronger standards, and now pushing to repeal the Clean Power Plan. And that’s not all — they are also rolling back regulations on other potent greenhouse gases including HFCs and methane.

“It’s not just a stable climate that is at stake” concluded McGimsey, “The Clean Power Plan is cleaning up our air. No one wants more pollution, more illness, and more deaths from burning dirty fossil fuels, yet that is exactly what we’ll get from this new proposed rule. The EPA’s mission is to protect our environment and our health. The Trump administration needs to stop this rollback and get back to work doing just that.”