Vermont Business Magazine President Obama today announced the finalization of America's Clean Power Plan, the biggest step the United States has ever taken to combat climate change. This plan sets the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants, while providing states and utilities with the flexibility they need to meet those standards.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) issued the following statement after President Obama unveiled new environmental regulations to combat climate change and promote renewable energy.
“I commend the President for his strong leadership in addressing the causes of climate change, a problem that so many other elected officials here and around the world are happy to just ignore or deny. He has finalized clean air rules that the Clean Air Act requires and that the Supreme Court has upheld.
“In the past the true costs of carbon pollution have been hidden and passed along to everyone else. With no effective accountability, there has been little incentive and too little effort to improve public health or to minimize the contributions to climate change. It is the proper role of government, acting for all the people of the nation, to set overall rules so we can see hidden costs and deal with them. By setting clear rules, we can begin meeting these goals that indisputably will benefit all Americans, and spark our emerging clean-energy economy. Clear rules send marketplace signals that will unleash the vigor and creativity of American entrepreneurship and investment. Clear rules are the lynchpin to building a vigorous green economy that will create new American jobs, with born-in-America solutions, that can lead the world marketplace.
“The naysayers and the science deniers cannot or will not see the obvious. We need to open the door to a cleaner, growing economy. Our dependence on yesterday’s dirty power sources has been costing us too much in air quality and climate-related public health problems, extreme weather disasters, water pollution, and other harms. The Clean Power Plan provides an achievable, commonsense solution that will help build our economy, while contributing many other benefits, such as further reducing the mercury contamination of our waters and asthma-causing soot emissions.”
Governor Peter Shumlin said:
“Today is a good day for the planet. President Obama has outlined the boldest step to date to combat climate change and ensure a livable world for future generations. Under his plan, America will move off the dirty energy that is polluting our environment, damaging our health, and threatening our future. Instead, we will move towards an energy future that relies on renewable energy, protects our planet, and creates new jobs for hard working Americans.
“The critics of today’s announcement should look to the example of Vermont where we have taken the lead in implementing the President’s vision for a clean energy future and shown that doing so can be good for ratepayers and the economy. In the last four and a half years we have increased by more than ten times the amount of solar installed or on the way, doubled our Standard Offer program, expanded net metering by sevenfold, cut the price of solar in half, and increased wind generation by 20 times. All of that activity supports a clean energy economy with over 15,000 jobs and has helped lead to two successive electric bill decreases for customers of Vermont’s largest utility.”
Attorney General William H Sorrell (along with nine other State Attorneys General, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York) said he supports the Obama Administration’s final rules, announced today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing and new power plants under the federal Clean Air Act. Attorney General Sorrell joined in a letter that informed EPA that the states anticipate defending the rules if they are challenged in court.
“My office is prepared to defend these rules,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “The rules will dramatically reduce emissions of climate change pollution from our nation’s single largest source, new and existing fossil fuel-fired power plants. Vermonters will benefit because the rules will protect human health, our environment, and economy.”
Deb Markowitz, Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, also voiced support for the final rules, “Vermont has been an early adopter of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and EPA’s rules to reduce carbon emissions from power plants align with our greenhouse gas reduction goals to reduce emissions by 75% by 2050.”
The rules are a result of a decade-long effort by states to require mandatory cuts in emissions of climate change pollution from power plants. The rule for existing power plants alone is expected to eliminate the amount of climate change pollution as is emitted by 160 million cars each year. EPA adopted the rules through a multi-year stakeholder process that drew from strategies that states and regions have used to cut power plant emissions while benefiting their economies, such as the Northeast Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
Vermont is a member of RGGI, which has successfully reduced regional carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector while at the same time reducing total energy bills and adding to the regional economy.
Green Mountain Power also issued a statement in support of new climate change regulations:
“Green Mountain Power, Vermont’s Energy Company of the Future, supports the new climate change regulations. This aligns with GMP’s missionto deliver low-cost, low-carbon, and highly reliable power, which is critical to our energy future. And it also aligns with our shared Vermont goal to reduce carbon emissions and use more clean energy. In Vermont, the frequency and severity of storms caused by a changing climate have a high cost, and a practical plan for reducing carbon emissions is a key part of lowering costs for customers and increasing reliability.
“GMP is partnering with customers to accelerate the pace of change here in Vermont to a more distributed energy future that is based on energy being generated closer to the home and where it is used. We are finding new ways to help Vermonters save money and be more comfortable, while moving to cleaner local sources of energy – exemplified by the deployment of substantial renewable generation in the past several years, our Energy Homes of the Future, “eHomes”, and our goal to make Rutland the Energy City of the Future. Generating energy through microgrids empowers customers to make more choices about how and when they use energy.
“While some utilities across the country are fighting innovative clean energy solutions, we are moving full steam ahead with our efforts to find new ways to bring down energy costs and generate more clean power. It is critical that we rethink the current grid and business model to more local distributed generation. We want to transform the distribution grid from a 100-year-old electric delivery model where energy is transmitted inefficiently across long distances to a new system designed to create efficiencies and distributed energy solutions through renewable technologies and energy storage. This is the future, and we are so excited to be a part of how Vermont is leading the way.”
Don Rendall, President & CEO of Vermont Gas, issued the following statement:
“President Obama today released thefinal Clean Power Plan, which sets flexible and achievable standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector by 32 percent. What an important goal for our country and the rest of the world.
“Vermont’s own clean energy plan envisions reducing dependence on expensive oil and propane, and expanding clean energy options including natural gas and renewable energy, led by energy efficiency and innovation.
“Every utility has a role to play in achieving our nation’s clean energy future. Vermont Gas added almost 2100 customers to our energy efficiency program in 2014. In the two counties now served by Vermont Gas – Chittenden and Franklin – our customers displace emissions equivalent to almost 10% of Vermont’s car and light truck emissions, just by displacing oil and propane and implementing energy efficiency.
“Vermont has a strong record on clean energy and Vermont Gas will continue to play an important part in our clean energy future.”
Source: Governor Shumlin. Green Mountain Power. 8.3.2015