{"id":4264,"date":"2013-10-04T17:13:44","date_gmt":"2013-10-04T22:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=4264"},"modified":"2014-03-05T12:26:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T17:26:19","slug":"new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants"},"content":{"rendered":"

On June 25th<\/sup>, at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama issued a stirring call to action on climate change<\/a>, saying:<\/p>\n

As a president, as a father and as an American, I am here to say we need to act.\u00a0 I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that\u2019s beyond fixing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In that speech, President Obama announced his Climate Action Plan<\/a> — a suite of actions that his Administration will take to curb dangerous emissions of heat-trapping pollutants.<\/p>\n

In that Climate Action Plan, the President directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop Carbon Pollution Standards for new and existing power plants.<\/p>\n

Power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gases in America, and there are currently no federal limits<\/strong> on the amount of climate-destabilizing pollutants that these plants can put into\u00a0the air.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the attacks on the Carbon Pollution Standards had begun months earlier.<\/p>\n

Those attacks included the usual sensational, defeatist, and wholly-unsupported claims designed to delay, deny, and obstruct progress.<\/p>\n

Quieter but no less sensational are the attacks launched by the lawyers<\/strong> of obstructionist fossil fuel interests. Hunton & Williams, on behalf of the opaque Utility Air Regulatory Group, is leading the pack.<\/p>\n

The legal attacks on the standards for existing power plants effectively boil down to this:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. EPA does not have the authority under the Clean Air Act to establish any actual limits on carbon pollution.<\/li>\n
  2. If EPA does have that authority, there are no demonstrated measures to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, so any required emission reductions must at most be “minimal.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    We disagree.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

    In this white paper<\/a>, we lay out the legal foundation for EPA\u2019s authority to work with the states to ensure implementation of strong and cost-effective Carbon Pollution Standards for existing power plants.<\/p>\n

    These standards can support our nation\u2019s transition to a cleaner, safer, smarter power infrastructure and deliver the reductions in carbon pollution we so urgently need.<\/p>\n

    In the President\u2019s words<\/a>:<\/p>\n

    Our progress here will be measured differently, in crises averted, in a planet preserved. But can we imagine a more worthy goal? For while we may not live to see the full realization of our ambition, we will have the satisfaction of knowing that the world we leave to our children will be better off for what we did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    America is united by these hopes and dreams for a better world. Thanks to the ingenuity of our engineers and inventors, and the skill of our workers, the solutions are at hand to build a cleaner power sector and to use energy more efficiently.<\/p>\n

    The Clean Air Act provides a framework<\/a> under which EPA and the states can work together to deploy these solutions. We need only work together — in red states, blue states and purple states alike — to meet this challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On June 25th, at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama issued a stirring call to action on climate change, saying: As a president, as a father and as an American, I am here to say we need to act.\u00a0 I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that\u2019s beyond fixing. In that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4017,202,44,99],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean-air-act","category-greenhouse-gas-emissions","category-policy","category-links-and-quotes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On June 25th, at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama issued a stirring call to action on climate change, saying: As a president, as a father and as an American, I am here to say we need to act.\u00a0 I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that\u2019s beyond fixing. In that ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-04T22:13:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-03-05T17:26:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Megan Ceronsky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Megan Ceronsky\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Megan Ceronsky\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/913e9ce99692f5ce7bc2c9802869619e\"},\"headline\":\"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-04T22:13:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-05T17:26:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":487,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Clean Air Act\",\"Greenhouse Gas Emissions\",\"Policy\",\"What Others are Saying\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/\",\"name\":\"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants - Climate 411\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-04T22:13:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-05T17:26:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/913e9ce99692f5ce7bc2c9802869619e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/2013\\\/10\\\/04\\\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/\",\"name\":\"Climate 411\",\"description\":\"Blogging the science and policy of global warming\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/913e9ce99692f5ce7bc2c9802869619e\",\"name\":\"Megan Ceronsky\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9090504f68a1f5514936253b2bdccc4b941689fc61eb7b81f80dac7aa66e38af?s=96&d=mm&r=ga3a4660991203a43e76ff69cf33a6dd3\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9090504f68a1f5514936253b2bdccc4b941689fc61eb7b81f80dac7aa66e38af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9090504f68a1f5514936253b2bdccc4b941689fc61eb7b81f80dac7aa66e38af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Megan Ceronsky\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.edf.org\\\/people\\\/megan-ceronsky\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.edf.org\\\/climate411\\\/author\\\/mceronsky\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants - Climate 411","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants - Climate 411","og_description":"On June 25th, at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama issued a stirring call to action on climate change, saying: As a president, as a father and as an American, I am here to say we need to act.\u00a0 I refuse to condemn your generation and future generations to a planet that\u2019s beyond fixing. In that ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/","og_site_name":"Climate 411","article_published_time":"2013-10-04T22:13:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-03-05T17:26:19+00:00","author":"Megan Ceronsky","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Megan Ceronsky","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/"},"author":{"name":"Megan Ceronsky","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/913e9ce99692f5ce7bc2c9802869619e"},"headline":"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants","datePublished":"2013-10-04T22:13:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-05T17:26:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/"},"wordCount":487,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Clean Air Act","Greenhouse Gas Emissions","Policy","What Others are Saying"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/","name":"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants - Climate 411","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-10-04T22:13:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-05T17:26:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/913e9ce99692f5ce7bc2c9802869619e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2013\/10\/04\/new-paper-outlines-the-legal-foundations-for-strong-carbon-pollution-standards-for-power-plants\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New paper outlines the legal foundations for strong Carbon Pollution Standards for power plants"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/","name":"Climate 411","description":"Blogging the science and policy of global warming","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/#\/schema\/person\/913e9ce99692f5ce7bc2c9802869619e","name":"Megan Ceronsky","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9090504f68a1f5514936253b2bdccc4b941689fc61eb7b81f80dac7aa66e38af?s=96&d=mm&r=ga3a4660991203a43e76ff69cf33a6dd3","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9090504f68a1f5514936253b2bdccc4b941689fc61eb7b81f80dac7aa66e38af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9090504f68a1f5514936253b2bdccc4b941689fc61eb7b81f80dac7aa66e38af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Megan Ceronsky"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/megan-ceronsky"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/author\/mceronsky\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4264"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}