{"id":4053,"date":"2015-08-10T11:19:57","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T17:19:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=4053"},"modified":"2015-08-10T11:24:49","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T17:24:49","slug":"how-obamas-clean-power-plan-actually-works-a-step-by-step-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=4053","title":{"rendered":"How Obama’s Clean Power Plan actually works \u2014 a step-by-step guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 5, 2015 – by Brad Plumer at\u00a0VOX<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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It’s easy enough to describe the basics of the\u00a0Clean Power Plan<\/a>, President Obama’s\u00a0sweeping new policy<\/a>\u00a0to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from America’s power plants. Heck, we can do it in a single paragraph.<\/p>\n

The EPA\u00a0is giving each state<\/a>\u00a0an individual goal for cutting power plant emissions. States can then decide for themselves how to get there. They can switch from coal to natural gas, expand renewables or nuclear, boost energy efficiency, enact carbon pricing … it’s up to them. States just have to submit their plans by 2016-2018, start cutting by 2022 at the latest, and then\u00a0keep cutting through 2030. Oh, and if states refuse to submit a plan, the EPA will impose its own federal plan, which could involve\u00a0some sort of cap-and-trade program<\/a>. Done.<\/p>\n

When the dust settles, EPA expects US power plant emissions will be 32 percent lower in 2030 than they were in 2005. A significant cut, though still\u00a0just a tiny piece of what’s needed<\/a>\u00a0to halt global warming.<\/p>\n

Related<\/span>Obama releases his most ambitious climate policy yet \u2014 the Clean Power Plan<\/a><\/div>\n

So then why does the rule\u00a0need to be 1,560 pages long<\/a>? Because that synopsis above still leaves tons of questions unanswered. How did the EPA actually come up with each state’s emissions target? Why does every state have a different target? What, exactly, can states do to cut emissions? What if they want to work together? If states refuse, what sort of federal plan gets handed down from on high?<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Clean Power Plan does not include industrial boilers like this one at Alcoa in Warrick County, IN. Those were dealt with in a previous rule making. \u00a9 2010 BlairPhotoEVV<\/p><\/div>\n

This fine print will matter a lot. So, for those curious about how the rule actually works, here’s a more detailed step-by-step guide to what EPA is doing:<\/p>\n

1) The EPA is setting individual emissions goals for 47 states<\/h3>\n

This is a key starting point. There isn’t a single nationwide policy here. Instead, the EPA\u00a0is setting different targets<\/a>\u00a0for 47 states \u2014 that is, 47 separate state goals for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 2030.<\/p>\n

Why just 47 states? Vermont and Washington, DC, are exempt because they don’t have any large fossil fuel or electric power plants, so there’s nothing to cut. Meanwhile, Alaska and Hawaii aren’t covered under the rule for now because the EPA\u00a0is still mulling<\/a>\u00a0how to deal with their unique grid situations. The agency says they’ll get regulated eventually.<\/p>\n

2) State emissions goals are set by a complicated formula<\/h3>\n
<\/figure>\n

So how did the EPA actually set each state’s target? This part is a tad more complex, and it’s completely different from how the agency calculated state goals\u00a0in last year’s draft proposal<\/a>\u00a0of the Clean Power Plan. I’ll walk through the broad steps involved:<\/p>\n

\u2014 First, take stock of the nation’s fossil-fuel power plants.\u00a0The EPA started by tallying up all the coal, oil, and natural gas power plants across the United States, placed them into two broad categories, and then figured out their average emission rates in 2012 in each of\u00a0the country’s three main electric-grid regions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More-<\/p>\n

Go to original\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 5, 2015 – by Brad Plumer at\u00a0VOX It’s easy enough to describe the basics of the\u00a0Clean Power Plan, President Obama’s\u00a0sweeping new policy\u00a0to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from America’s power plants. Heck, we can do it in a single paragraph. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4053"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4055,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4053\/revisions\/4055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}