Environmentalists and others are trying to rally support in Michigan for proposed rules to force utilities to make power plants cleaner.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants tougher emission standards for the nation’s power plants.
The EPA’s Clean Power Planaims to reduce carbon emissions from power plants by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030.
The American Public Power Association says the plan has problems. The utility industry group says “the proposal tries to do too much too fast.”
“EPA’s proposed emission reductions are “front-loaded,” requiring most of the reductions by 2020, a very short amount of time after the EPA must approve the states’ plans,” says APPA spokesman Joe Niper.
But Kevin Schappert thinks that’s just what needs to happen.
He’s with the group Climate Parents, which joined other groups Wednesday in the shadow of the Lansing Board of Water and Light’s coal-fired power plant to voice support for the EPA.
Schappert concedes utilities are already moving away from coal.
“They’re moving in that direction,” Schappert. “We just want them to move a little faster.”
A BWL spokesman says the utility supports the goal of the EPA plan, though adding “there are many difficult decisions ahead for the state and its electric utilities.”
More than a dozen states are challenging the EPA’s new emissions rule.
