WHO BENEFITS FROM INCREASING GHG REGULATIONS?
Executives and stock holders or the managers & workers?
In response to: E.P.A. Announces Repeal of Major Obama-Era Carbon Emissions Rule
"The Trump administration announced on Monday that it would take formal steps to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature policy to curb greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, setting up a bitter fight over the future of America’s efforts to tackle global warming.
At an event in eastern Kentucky, Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said that his predecessors had departed from regulatory norms in crafting the Clean Power Plan, which was finalized in 2015 and would have pushed states to move away from coal in favor of sources of electricity that produce fewer carbon emissions.
“The war on coal is over,” Mr. Pruitt said. “Tomorrow in Washington, D.C., I will be signing a proposed rule to roll back the Clean Power Plan. No better place to make that announcement than Hazard, Ky.”
Who are coal workers? Who lives in close proximity to coal mining facilities? Who breathes the air at work and home? Who drinks the water in close proximity to tailings ponds? Who is on call, waiting to find out each week whether or not they work? Who is relying on a dying industry to feed, clothe and care for the health of their family? Who gets black lung disease? Who carries coal dust home with them each night? Who will work for it, receive little benefit from it and then suffer the most severe impacts of climate change? Who will be the first to die? There is no such thing as clean coal.
What if the system were turned upside down by coal country sending a message to Scott Pruitt about what coal does to their communities and families. The people of Kentucky need and deserve safe, consistent jobs and a clean energy future.
* Coal is just used as an example. The burning of any fossil fuel, including natural (fracked) gas, increases GHGs and climate change impacts.
"What does this mean for emissions? While the repeal of the Clean Power Plan offers a reprieve for America’s coal industry, it is unlikely to halt the decline of coal altogether. Even in the absence of the rule, many utilities across the country have opted to shift to natural gas, wind and solar, driven by cost concerns and state-level policies. Many states, like California and New York, are already moving ahead of the targets set by the Clean Power Plan as they develop their own climate policies."
NOTE: Governor Cuomo has already said NY will still abide by the expectations of the CPP. Other states, like MA, are likely to do the same. The CPP did not go far enough in its expectations. Moving forward, we should aggressively increase our movement to clean energy, not reduce regulations on fossil fuels.
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