[P]resident Barack Obama announced a new plan Monday for the Environmental Protection Agency that targets reducing carbon pollution from power plants, which sparked fierce debate over the plan’s merits.
Much of the argument in the media was focused on whether the climate change plan will have significant impact.
The New York Times reported in a glowing op-ed that the “Clean Power Plan has rightly been hailed as the most important action any president has taken to address the climate crisis.” The same day, Politico’s Michael Grunwald wrote an opposing op-ed with the headline: “Why Obama’s epic climate plan isn’t such a big deal.”
Though the Clean Power Plan does set maximum emission thresholds to cut carbon emissions across the country, Grunwald argues in his piece that the plan sets too low a bar – most states will likely meet those thresholds well before 2030, rendering the plan useless, he wrote.
In Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii, the climate change bill is almost guaranteed to be useless: Vermont’s carbon emissions are already so low that the state is exempt from the Clean Power Plan’s rules, the Burlington Free Press reported. In other words, Vermont doesn’t need to make any costly cuts to emissions, but will still enjoy the benefits of cleaner air from surrounding states.
Perhaps for that reason, Vermont’s leaders, representatives and notable citizens have been nearly unanimous in their support of the Clean Power Plan.
Gov. Peter Shumlin, Rep. Peter Welch and Attorney General William Sorrell, as well as the Burlington Electric Department and Vermont Gas and others have all voiced their support for the plan.
“President Obama’s bold Clean Power Plan will have an enormous impact on carbon emissions that are a leading cause of climate change. It is a practical and flexible plan that is the product of constructive input from states and utilities,” said Welch in a statement.
Shumlin praised the plan’s rules, while drawing attention to the fact that the state had already exceeded the EPA’s emissions goals.
“The critics of today’s announcement should look to the example of Vermont where we have taken the lead in implementing the President’s vision for a clean energy future and shown that doing so can be good for ratepayers and the economy,” he said in a statement.
Outside of Vermont, however, the argument over the Clean Power Plan has higher stakes and fiercer participants. The nation’s presidential hopefuls quickly took the fight to Twitter, asserting their positions via hashtags and under-140-character stump-speeches:
“Climate change is a planetary crisis. Our task is clear. We must dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. #CleanPowerPlan,” tweeted Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton tweeted “@POTUS is right — we can’t wait for another generation to tackle climate change. Our future depends on what we do today & in the next decade.”
Republican candidates tended to be less supportive of the climate plan:
“Obama’s carbon crusade shows he’s more committed to confronting American coal miners than Iranian clerics who chant ‘death to America’,” tweeted Republican presidential hopeful and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, adding “#EPA.”
