House Republicans Bring War on Clean Air and Our Environment to Virginia

NRDC: “New Carbon Standards Are Good for Our Health, Our Economy and Our Planet”’

WASHINGTON (July 16, 2012) --- The reckless and ongoing House Republican assault against our health and our environment is popping up today in Abingdon, Va. There, the House Energy and Power Subcommittee is staging a `hearing’ to attack the Environmental Protection Agency’s first-ever national safeguards to curb dangerous carbon pollution from new power plants.

The following is a statement David Doniger, climate policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council:

“The EPA’s new carbon pollution safeguards will be good for our health, good for our economy, and good for our planet.

“The marketplace is king.  America’s power companies are not planning to build new coal-fired power plants largely due to the availability of low-cost natural gas, strong growth in wind and solar power, and big opportunities to improve energy efficiency.  The Department of Energy, utility executives, and industry analysts all forecast that the nation will meet its needs for new electricity supplies without building new coal plants. 

“The new standard reinforces what most power company executives and investors already understand – that carbon pollution and climate change are serious concerns, and that if and when new coal plants make a comeback, they will need to be designed with carbon capture and storage technology. 

“The logical next step is to improve our aging fleet of existing coal-fired power plants, which remain the major source of industrial carbon pollution in our country.”

For more information about EPA’s announcement about the proposed standard, read David Doniger’s blog: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/ddoniger/cleaner_power_starts_today_epa.html