WASHINGTON, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to table a draft plan Monday seeking to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2030 from existing power plants, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"EPA will release its proposed carbon pollution reduction rule on Monday. Until then the agency will not comment on any information that may or may not be in the proposal,” the agency’s spokesman, Tom Reynolds, said Sunday.
The rule is expected to give substantial leeway to US states who are to map out compliance plans and submit them by June 2016. They will be able to opt for renewable energy, invest in energy-efficient technologies or continue to buy and sell greenhouse emissions caps.
The bill will be debated by the House of Representatives, currently a stronghold of the climate-change skeptic Republican Party, which has a history of blocking anti-emission legislation. Many GOP congressmen believe that CO2 reductions will hit the country’s economy and drive energy prices upwards.
EPA’s new rule is seen as a step towards meeting the goals of President Barack Obama’s climate-change agenda, years after it was rolled out in 2009.
