EPA Administrator Says Coal Rules Necessary Because of ‘Devastating Impacts on the Planet’

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PjMedia:

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans attacked the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) plan to cut pollution for coal-fired power plants last week, challenging the validity of the research on climate change and the viability of a technology aimed at cleaning carbon emissions.

 

Four of the federal government’s top climate change officials appeared before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to try to build momentum for the president’s climate change strategy.

 

President Obama unveiled in June his climate action plan following the collapse of a cap-and-trade bill in the Senate. The plan includes a slew of new policies to curtail U.S. carbon emissions and promote renewable energy.

The president’s climate plan directs the EPA to propose rules to cut carbon pollution from power plants.

At the hearing, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told lawmakers power plants are the single largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S.

If left unaddressed, climate change could “have devastating impacts on the United States and the planet,” she said.

Democrats and Republicans on the committee exchanged divisive rhetoric on the issue.