Green grows the presidency

Give President Barack Obama some green points. Having allowed the healthcare debate to get away from him, he apparently has decided to take the initiative on greenhouse gases and climate change. His administration, via the Environmental Protection Agency, said today that it “was moving forward on new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from hundreds of power plants and large industrial facilities,” according to The New York Times.

“We are not going to continue with business as usual,” Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said in a conference call Wednesday with reporters. “We have the tools and the technology to move forward today, and we are using them.”

The proposed rules, which could take effect as early as 2011, would place the greatest burden on 400 new power plants and those undergoing substantial renovation, making them prove that they have applied the best available technology to reduce emissions — or face penalties.

Ms. Jackson described the proposal as a common-sense rule carefully tailored to apply to only the largest facilities — those that emit at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year — which are responsible for nearly 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet