The EPA to Repeal ‘Clean Power Plan’

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to formally repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP) that was put in place by the Obama’s administration as a climate change initiative.  

A draft of the proposal was leaked to the media on Friday and it says that the CPP oversteps the bounds of federal law and will lead to hikes in energy prices for consumers.

“The EPA proposes to determine that the CPP is not within Congress’s grant of authority to the agency under the governing statute. It is not in the interests of the EPA, or in accord with its mission of environmental protection consistent with the rule of law, to expend its resources along the path of implementing a rule, receiving and passing judgment on state plans, or promulgating federal plans in furtherance of a policy that is not within the bounds of our statutory authority,” according to the leaked proposal. “The EPA is proposing to repeal the CPP in its entirety.” 

Although the CPP never went into effect due to legal challenges by the industry and coal-friendly states, it still had a significant impact on coal projects. Several existing coal-fired facilities were planning to close down in preparation of the environmental measure.  

CPP was put in plan in Obama’s effort to combat climate change. The plan was designed to cut carbon pollution by 32% by 2030.  

The agency has not announced if it will be implementing another law to limit carbon emissions in the future.   

“The EPA has not determined whether it will promulgate a rule … to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing[power plants[ and, if it will do so, when it will do so and what form that rule will take,” said the agency in the draft proposal.

“Any replacement rule that the Trump administration proposes will be done carefully and properly within the confines of the law,” said Liz Bowman, EPA spokeswoman in the past.  

President Donald Trump promised to ease restrictions on the companies that were devastated by Obama’s efforts to slow global warming.

“The Clean Power Plan represented an unlawful attempt to transform the nation’s power grid … and raise costs on American consumers,” said Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association.

The Trump Administration says in the alleged draft proposal that CPP would cost up to $33 billion in compliance costs in 2030.

Quinn points out that the new plan, without the CPP, will save over 27,000 mining jobs and 240 million tons of coal production a year.

Author’s note: Back in the 1970’s, emissions were out of control. Every major city in the U.S. was surrounded by smog. Having stricter emissions standards were certainly worthwhile at that time and the problem was essentially fixed in the U.S. However, it has not been fixed in many places, including China, India, and most of the third world cities. These countries need to do their part too. Many of Obama’s measures to combat climate change were just part of his push to be deemed as the “environmental president.” It was his claim to fame and he didn’t care that the CPP would halt American business.

Editor’s note: Trump will likely take some heart for this for being against “clean power,” but in reality most of Obama’s branding was deceptive.