Obama unveils plan to fight climate change negative impacts
US President Barack Obama has unveiled a plan to cut emissions from American power plants.
Obama warned on Monday that climate change was already influencing the “reality we’re living with every day.”
“We only get one home. We only get one planet. There is no plan B,” he said at the White House. “I don’t want my grandkids to not be able to swim in Hawaii, or not to be able to climb a mountain and see a glacier, because we didn’t do something about it.”
The carbon dioxide limits are "the single most important step" the US has taken to fight climate change, said the US president.
"There is such a thing as being too late when it comes to climate change," he warned.
According to the Obama administration officials, the rule could be a crucial step in finalization of a landmark climate change treaty during an upcoming global summit in Paris this December.
GOP arguments ‘stale’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of the first Republicans to react to the new rule.
McConnell, who is from the coal-producing state of Kentucky, said he would do “everything I can to fight” it.
“These regulations would likely mean fewer jobs, shuttered power plants, and higher electricity costs for families and businesses,” McConnell said in a floor speech on Monday. “I will not sit by while the White House takes aim at the lifeblood of our state’s economy.”
The rule stipulates a 32-percent cut in carbon emissions by American power producers by 2030, further promoting use of cleaner alternatives.
Obama censured “the special interests and their allies in Congress” who allege the rule would "cost jobs, kill jobs, destroy the coal industry, and hurt low-income and minority community.”
“We’ve heard these same stale arguments before,” Obama said. “Every time America has made progress, it has been despite these kinds of claims.”
“If you care about low-income and minority communities, start by protecting the air that they breathe,” he noted, adding, he would personally travel to the Alaskan Arctic to highlight the negative effects of climate change.
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