New Rules Will Limit Climate Change Pollution from Power Plants; Letter to EPA Cites Critical Need for EPA Regulations to Protect the Public, the Environment, Grow Our Economies; New Rules Target Existing and New Power Plants, with Existing Power Plant Rule Cutting Pollution Equivalent to That Produced Annually by More Than 160 Million Cars
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, along with ten other attorneys general and the City of New York, wrote to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expressing strong support for final rules of the Obama Administration that – for the first time – limit emissions of climate change pollution from existing and new fossil fuel-burning power plants. The letters state that these Attorneys General fully anticipate supporting EPA in defending the rules if they are challenged in court.
"The power plant rules issued today . . . mark the culmination of a decade-long effort by our states in advocating for cutting climate change pollution from power plants – the single largest U.S. source of these emissions," Attorney General Kilmartin's letter reads. "The power plant rules will result in dramatic reductions in current and future emissions of climate change pollution. We are in the process of reviewing the rules, but fully anticipate standing with EPA and the Attorneys General of New York, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York to defend these necessary emission standards if they are challenged in court."
The Clean Power Plant rules will control carbon dioxide and other climate change emissions by setting limits on the amount of climate change pollution that can be released from new and existing plants. The rule for existing plants is expected to eliminate as much climate change pollution as is emitted by more than 160 million cars a year the equivalent of 70 percent of the nation's passenger cars.
Kilmartin's letter emphasizes that the EPA's power plant rules are "firmly grounded in the law." The federal Clean Air Act requires the agency to set limits on power plant emissions of climate change pollution. The agency adopted the power plant rules through a multi-year stakeholder process that draws heavily on strategies that states have used to cut power plant emissions, while benefiting their economies. For example, the nine-state Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), of which Rhode Island is a partner, has reduced regional carbon dioxide emissions by the electricity sector, by 40 percent from 2005 levels. The program's first three years saw a $1.3 billion reduction in total energy bills in the nine states, added $1.6 billion to the regional economy and created an estimated 16,000 jobs.
"These new regulations will be beneficial for Rhode Islanders much in the same way that previous initiatives like the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative have been," says Attorney General Kilmartin. "Climate change is a serious issue that requires measures such as this to preserve our environment for future generations, and this new measure will make a necessary and substantial reduction in climate change pollution."