New EPA Standards will Cut Carbon Pollution to Fight Climate Change

latinovationsBy Latinovations

Last Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that they would push for regulations outlined by President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to “cut carbon pollution from new power plants in order to combat climate change and improve public health.”

This proposal would limit power plant emissions of carbon dioxide, which is said to account for 40% of the greenhouse gases in the U.S.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy delivered the announcement and introduced the new rules that the EPA will hold for new power plants.

“These proposed standards would minimize carbon pollution by taking advantage of modern, cleaner energy technologies that power companies are already using to build the next generation of power plants,” wrote McCarthy in her Huffington Post piece. “This is exactly what the Clean Air Act requires.”

This announcement comes days after McCarthy and U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power to support President Obama’s climate change plan and to try to defend its importance in combating the effects of climate change.

Several Latino leaders and national organizations support the EPA’s new standard, and highlight that these changes would help improve the lives of thousands.

Mexican-American Actor and Director Edward James Olmos tweeted:

“Latinos speak OUT w @Voces_Verdes to protect our Familias’ healthy future. Applaud @EPA new Carbon limits. Time to #ActOnClimate para todo.”

“Latino families disproportionately live and work near power plants and other carbon pollution causing infrastructure.  This is a significant threat to our health and especially to the most vulnerable members of our extended families, our children and elderly,” said Mark Magaña, Executive Director of the National Latino Coalition on Climate Change/GreenLatinos. “These new carbon standards will begin the process of cleaning up our air for our future generations.”

This article was first published in Latinovations.

[Photo by Juan Ferr Alvarez]

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