Billed as the most sweeping action by the government to date to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday unveiled tough new rules intended to curb emissions from coal-burning power plants.
The proposed Clean Power Plan, for the first time, sets state-by-state targets for reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants. By 2030, the EPA wants to cut carbon emissions from the power sector, nationwide, by 30 percent below 2005 levels, equal to the emissions from powering more than half the homes in the United States for one year. The plan also aims to cut particle pollution, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide by more than 25 percent.
