EPA Announces "Clean Power Plan" To Reduce Carbon Pollution From Power Plants

On June 2, 2014, the United States Environmental Protection Agency announced its proposed Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

According to the EPA, temperatures have been rising since 1901, and in 2012, weather disasters cost the United States over $100 billion.  The EPA cites human emissions of greenhouse gases as the cause of these climate changes, and states that power plants are responsible for about one-third of all United States GHG emissions, and are the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions nationwide.  The EPA's Clean Power Plan includes a National Framework for States that sets state-specific emissions goals for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.  The Plan only proposes goals for states with fossil fuel-fired power plants, so Vermont and Washington, D.C. are not included because they do not have fossil fuel-fired power plants that would be affected by the Plan.  The EPA also did not propose goals for