# 10 Things You Should Know About the Clean Power Plan

*Published:* 2017-03-31
*Author:* Tomas Carbonell

Just hours after President Trump signed an executive order to weaken a wide range of America’s important climate and heath protections, the Administration [filed a motion](https://www.edf.org/sites/default/files/content/motion_-_filed_march_28_-_2017_-_930pm_et.pdf) to delay the D.C Circuit court’s review of the Clean Power Plan case.

That’s only the first of what we expect will be many attacks on the [Clean Power Plan](https://www.edf.org/climate/a-new-federal-clean-power-plan) – our only nationwide limit on climate pollution from power plants. However, the Clean Power Plan is [popular with Americans](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/21/climate/how-americans-think-about-climate-change-in-six-maps.html?_r=0) across the country, and an extraordinarily broad and diverse group of leaders and experts from across America have [announced their support](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/wp-content/blogs.dir/7/files/2017/03/Statements-on-the-Rollback-of-the-Clean-Power-Plan-20170330.CYJ_.pdf) for the Clean Power Plan since the executive order.

You’ll likely be hearing a lot about this story in the near future. While you follow the news, here are 10 things you should know about the Clean Power Plan.

**1. The Clean Power Plan is expected to save thousands of lives and protect the health of Americans across the country.** According to EPA’s analysis, when fully implemented the Clean Power Plan will:


- Prevent up to 3,600 premature deaths each year
- Prevent up to 1,700 heart attacks each year
- Prevent up to 90,000 asthma attacks each year
- Prevent up to 300,000 missed work days and school days each year

**2. The Clean Power Plan’s pollution reduction targets are eminently achievable.**

Carbon pollution from the power sector has decreased by [more than 20 percent](http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=26232) since 2005, meaning that we’re already more than two-thirds of the way toward meeting the Clean Power Plan standards for 2030. In fact, most states that are litigating against the Clean Power Plan are [on track to meet](http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/USA-CLIMATECHANGE-LAWSUIT/010021NQ436/index.html) these pollution limits. The Clean Power Plan is essential to ensure that this momentum is sustained and that power sector investments in clean energy are deployed in a way that maximizes their pollution reduction benefits.

**3. The Clean Power Plan can reduce electricity bills for families.**

The Clean Power Plan gives states and power companies tremendous flexibility in deciding how to meet the pollution reduction targets – including through cost-effective energy efficiency measures that save families money. Independent analyses of the Clean Power Plan have found that [average bills could decline](http://www.mjbradley.com/sites/default/files/MJBA_CPP_IPM_Report_III_2016-06-01_final_0.pdf) by as much as 11 percent as a result of these measures. That’s why leading consumer and ratepayer advocates, including [Consumers Union](http://consumersunion.org/news/withdrawing-cpp-higher-consumer-costs/), [support the Clean Power Plan](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2016/09/22/the-clean-power-plan-driving-down-electricity-bills-for-families/).

**4. Our vibrant clean energy sector employs millions of Americans and it is thriving.**

According to a recent assessment by [Advanced Energy Economy](http://info.aee.net/hubfs/PDF/AEN%202017%20Market%20Report.pdf?t=1490632429905), the United States clean energy sector is now a rapidly-growing, $200 billion industry that employs 3.3 million Americans.

**5. Clean energy is creating economic opportunities in communities across the nation.**

The [American Wind Energy Association](http://www.awea.org/MediaCenter/pressrelease.aspx?ItemNumber=8736) estimates that 70 percent of wind farms are located in low-income counties, and that wind developers currently pay $222 million a year in lease payments to U.S. farmers, ranchers and other rural landowners. AWEA also [estimates](http://www.achrnews.com/articles/134640-over-3-million-in-us-now-work-for-clean-energy) that wind energy has created more than 25,000 manufacturing jobs in 43 states.

**6. The Administration’s promises that revoking climate and clean air protections will bring back coal jobs are false, as the coal industry itself recognizes.**

[Independent analyses](http://www.analysisgroup.com/uploadedfiles/content/insights/publishing/tierney%20-%20coal%20industry%20-%2021st%20century%20challenges%209-26-2016.pdf) have found that employment in the coal industry has been falling steadily since 1975, due largely to changing methods of coal production and – in more recent years – by competition from inexpensive natural gas. These trends [cannot be reversed](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-27/trump-s-order-won-t-resurrect-jobs-of-miners-key-to-his-campaign) by revoking the Clean Power Plan or other protections for clean air and clean water. Even coal company executives have acknowledged that the executive order [can’t bring mining jobs back](http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/325891-coal-executive-trump-cant-bring-mining-jobs-back).

**7. An extraordinarily broad and diverse coalition is supporting the Clean Power Plan in court.**

This [coalition](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2015/12/24/the-broad-and-diverse-coalition-that-is-supporting-the-clean-power-plan-in-court/) includes, among others: eighteen states and sixty municipalities; power companies that own and operate nearly ten percent of the nation’s generating capacity; leading businesses like Amazon, Apple, Google, Mars, and IKEA; former Republican heads of EPA; public health and environmental organizations; consumer and ratepayer advocates; faith organizations; and many others.

**8. Large majorities of Americans in red and blue states alike support reducing climate pollution from existing power plants.**

According to a [recent national poll](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/21/climate/how-americans-think-about-climate-change-in-six-maps.html?_r=0), 69 percent of Americans support placing limits on climate pollution from existing power plants – including a majority of Americans in every Congressional district in the country.

**9. The nation’s leading businesses support policies to reduce climate pollution.**

Just this month, [over 1,000 companies](http://www.lowcarbonusa.org/) and investors called on the Trump Administration to continue low-carbon policies, noting that “failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk” and that “the right action now will create jobs and boost U.S. competitiveness.”

**10. The Clean Power Plan rests on a rock-solid legal foundation.**

The Supreme Court has [held on three separate occasions](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2017/02/24/epa-has-the-responsibility-and-the-tools-to-address-climate-pollution-under-the-clean-air-act/) that Congress has vested EPA with the responsibility – and the tools – to reduce carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act. Numerous [legal](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2016/04/25/experts-agree-the-clean-power-plan-has-a-rock-solid-legal-and-technical-foundation/) [experts](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2015/11/10/a-growing-number-of-experts-affirm-the-strong-legal-basis-for-the-clean-power-plan/) – including drafters of the Clean Air Act, former EPA Administrators who served under Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and Bush, and former state energy and environmental officials – have affirmed the [strong legal basis ](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2016/09/26/the-legal-case-for-the-clean-power-plan-in-a-nutshell/)for the Clean Power Plan

Attacks on the Clean Power Plan and our other clean air protections present an unprecedented attack on our children’s health. It takes our nation backwards – to more pollution, more disease – even though Americans support forward progress towards clean air and clean energy.