This past summer, the Environmental Protection Agency took the greatest single step the U.S. has ever taken to address climate change, finalizing the Clean Power Plan. The Clean Power Plan sets the first-ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants, reducing it, by the year 2030, 32 percent below 2005 levels. This will only further encourage the transformation already underway in the power sector and spur development of cleaner, safer sources of energy. That’s good news for western Colorado.
The Clean Power Plan provides states flexibility to create customized plans to reduce carbon pollution and modernize energy portfolios. That will further encourage innovation in the power sector, creating jobs and leading to lower utility bills for consumers in the long run, according to the analysis that accompanied the rule-making. And this revolutionary shift that is occurring now is one upon which Colorado is uniquely poised to capitalize.
As is the case with all transformational change, there’s a status quo that would benefit from keeping things exactly as they are. The Clean Power Plan triggered a rush of lawsuits aimed at the new standards. Unfortunately, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman joined in this lawsuit even as Gov. John Hickenlooper remained steadfast in his readiness to make the Clean Power Plan work for Colorado.
See full story at the Post Independent.
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