A group of 28 US states is seeking to delay Trump administration plans to roll back nationwide air pollution standards by allowing additional time for public comment on a proposal that would allow individual states to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, New York state Attorney General Barbara Underwood said in a press release on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2018) A group of 28 US states is seeking to delay Trump administration plans to roll back nationwide air pollution standards by allowing additional time for public comment on a proposal that would allow individual states to regulate carbon emissions from power plants, New York state Attorney General Barbara Underwood said in a press release on Wednesday.
"The coalition's call was made in a letter to Acting EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] Administrator Andrew Wheeler and relates to the Trump EPA's recent proposed 'replacement' for the Clean Power Plan, the first-ever national limits on climate change pollution emissions from existing fossil-fuel power plants - one of its largest sources," the release said.
The release explained that the Trump administration proposal would end nationwide rules for carbon emissions from power plants and grant regulatory authority to individual states.
The coalition's letter pointed out that EPA Administrator Wheeler, in a memorandum issued to EPA staff shortly after he was named to the post, said, "EPA must provide for the fullest possible public participation in [its] decision making" and must "take affirmative steps to seek out the views of those who will be affected by the decisions, including... the governments of states, cities and towns," the release said.
The letter claimed that the Trump administration's proposed replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan could result in more than 100 million tons of additional carbon dioxide emissions and more than 1,000 additional premature deaths by 2030.
Pending lawsuits have challenged EPA's authority under the US law to regulate carbon as a pollutant similar to toxic emissions that pose an immediate health threat. Carbon is considered a Primary contributor to global warming.
