This article was originally published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on August 7, 2015. Subscribers can read the full article here.
A crackdown on carbon emissions from power plants, announced by the Obama administration Aug. 3, is drawing protests from utilities and large manufacturers.
But the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to require a rollback in carbon emissions of 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 is expected to serve as a catalyst for natural gas and renewable energy.
“Georgia has been a coal state,” said Kurt Ebersbach, a senior attorney in the Atlanta office of the Southern Environmental Law Center. “But there is a transition … [toward] a more balanced energy portfolio that is already underway and will continue. What the Clean Power Plan will do is provide additional incentive and accelerate that transition.”
The new EPA rule — the nation’s first-ever restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions — would impose stricter limits on carbon than a preliminary proposal the agency released last summer. For one, the earlier rule had set the goal for the reduction at 30 percent.
Read the rest of the story, including Kevin’s contribution, at the Atlanta Business Chronicle online.
