Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
1/31/2014
President Barack Obama offered few surprises on the energy and environment front during this year’s State of the Union address, conducted this week, highlighting his commitment to an all-of-the-above energy strategy and urging swift action on climate change while also declaring success in moving the country closer to energy independence and lowering its carbon emissions. But Obama also cautioned that the road ahead would be long and at times difficult. “The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way,” he said. “But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact. And when our children’s children look us in the eye and ask if we did all we could to leave them a safer, more stable world, with new sources of energy, I want us to be able to say yes, we did.”
Obama also briefly nodded to Environmental Protection Agency regulation that would limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, saying action was needed because the effects of climate change are already harming communities across the country. The EPA has released a draft rule that would limit GHGs from new power plants and would essentially mandate carbon capture and storage technology for new coal-fired plants, and the Agency is expected to release draft rules setting emission standards for existing power plants later this year. Obama did not offer any indication on how the regulation might be structured in his speech, although he said he directed the EPA to work with states and utilities on the standards. Obama also called for an end to $4 billion a year in tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry in favor of investing in renewables such as solar power.
EPA Power Plant Rule Prompts Responses
Legislators and organizations were quick to react to the State of the Union address, with several issuing statements zeroing in on the EPA’s GHG rules for new and existing power plants. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) decried the rule for new plants, saying that its essential mandate that plants be fitted with carbon capture and storage technology would prohibit plants from being built. “Through his extreme actions, the President is making America the only country in the world where you cannot build a new coal fired power plant because the technology needed for compliance with his regulations is not commercially viable,” Whitfield said. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said the EPA rule for new plants exemplifies a “massive expansion of government” and added that the new standards “will have very little impact on greenhouse gas concentrations, but they will have a very real impact on the energy bills of hard working American families.”
However, a number of environmental organizations commended Obama for taking on climate change and outlined recommendations for how the Administration might craft the rules for existing plants, with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions urging “meaningful reductions” from the carbon limits that would at the same time ensure “the reliability and affordability of America’s power supplies.” The group also said the Administration should work with states and business to “forge practical, flexible approaches that protect both the climate and our economy.” In addition, a coalition of groups, including the Center for American Progress, the Environmental Defense Fund, the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others, issued a statement urging Obama to take strong action on existing power plants to reduce emissions. “Every day, power plants dump unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into our air,” the groups said. “That has to stop. We urge the President and the Environmental Protection Agency to set strong standards that will reduce carbon pollution from power plants by more than 25 percent below current levels by 2020 while encouraging new energy efficiency and clean energy technologies. This level of decrease is essential to help achieve the president’s 2020 goal of a 17 percent cut in climate pollution.”
Some Wanted to See Stronger Action
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions also called on the Administration to take stronger action to address climate change, such as putting a price on carbon. “After declining for several years, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are again on the rise, and much stronger efforts are needed to rein them in and achieve steep long-term reductions,” the group said. “The most efficient way is to put a price on carbon. But there’s no prospect of Congress taking serious action anytime soon, and the President is right to move forward with the regulatory tools at his disposal. … The coming year will be critical in shaping America’s response to climate change and, in turn, prospects for a meaningful international agreement next year in Paris. The President has a credible and comprehensive plan to cut emissions, expand clean energy, and strengthen resilience to climate impacts. Now is the time to put it into action.”
