Texas Clean Air Matters

Selected tag(s): Clean Power Plan

Study Shows How Power Plant Rules Can Save Lives, Improve Public Health in Texas

By / Bio / Published: July 15, 2015
A recent study suggests that a carbon emissions reduction policy for power plants could prevent thousands of premature deaths

A carbon emissions reduction policy for power plants could prevent thousands of premature deaths

When it comes to reducing carbon pollution from power plants, details in policy choices matter, especially for the state of Texas.

The final proposal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, which would put the first ever national limits on carbon pollution from power plants in the U.S., is expected later this summer. It comes on the heels of the publication of an important study in Nature Climate Change, which examined three different power plant carbon policy options and then investigated how each would affect clean air and public health.

The study is titled Health Co-benefits of Carbon Standards for Existing Power Plants, and was conducted by scientists Dr. Buonocore and Dr. Charles Driscoll as well as their colleagues from Harvard, Syracuse, and Boston Universities. Read More »

Posted in Air Pollution, Clean Power Plan, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Protection Agency / Also tagged , , | Comments are closed

EPA’s State-by-State Carbon Limits Indicate Smart Policy, Not Arbitrary Rulemaking

By / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 13, 2014

EDF_FB_renewableEnergy_solar (1)In June, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced – for the first time ever – standards to limit carbon emissions from U.S. power plants, known as the Clean Power Plan (CPP). Currently power plants emit 40 percent of U.S. carbon emissions, but under the proposed Clean Power Plan, the U.S. power sector will cut carbon pollution by 30 percent below 2005 levels.

Since this announcement, the usual suspects have attacked the CPP, calling its proposed state-by-state reduction standards arbitrary. Their claims couldn’t be further from reality. When EPA asked states for feedback on how to best craft this standard, states asked for two things: individual standards and flexibility. And that’s what they got. Anyone familiar with the proposed standards will know they are based on a consistent and objective methodology that takes into account each state’s unique energy portfolio and emissions, as well as built with maximum flexibility in mind.

At first glance, the climate-change-denying crowd dismissed the standards as arbitrary, because the limits vary from state to state. For example, Washington needs to reduce its emissions rate by 72 percent by 2030, while Kentucky only needs to cut its emissions rate by 18 percent over the same period. Texas lies somewhere in the middle with a 39 percent reduction required. So what gives? Read More »

Posted in Clean Power Plan, Climate Change, Demand Response, Energy Efficiency, Natural gas, Renewable Energy / Tagged | Read 2 Responses