Welcome back to Movement Mondays! I hope wherever you are, the weather is moderate. I’m grateful for cooler temperatures and some rainfall yesterday in this part of Colorado, although I’d like to share that bounty with other regions not faring so well (for instance, southwest Colorado where my son who is a server keeps dropping his daytime patio shifts because the heat is too much for him). Climate change is accelerating even more rapidly than predicted, but there’s so much we can do right now to avert the worst. In that spirit, today I’m asking for you to personalize a BRIEF LETTER to the EPA and Biden regarding power plant rules. Comments are due tomorrow (August 8) and we need the people’s voices so that the utility companies don’t dominate the conversation.
Per 198methods.org: President Biden’s EPA has proposed new rules to limit global warming pollution from power plants, and if done right, they could eliminate up to 90% of global warming pollution from the electric sector!
President Biden promised to cut global warming pollution 50% by 2030, and to eliminate all global warming pollution from the electricity sector by 2035. But because of a prior Supreme Court ruling, the EPA can’t tell utilities what fuel to use (like solar instead of fossil fuels) in order to provide that electricity. So, instead, the draft rules from the EPA focus on how much air pollution, including global warming pollution, that power plants can emit.
The draft rules are a big step in the right direction, requiring 90-100% reductions in emissions. But there are three big loopholes that the EPA needs to fix:
1. The new rules need to start immediately and require full compliance with the rule by 2030, not 2035.
2. The EPA must make sure the rule applies to plants that produce 85-100MW, down from 300MW, so that smaller gas plants are covered.
3. Biden needs to stop supporting false solutions like hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.
Those three key points are already laid out in the comment template, so all you need to do is personalize with a line or two about the air quality or extreme weather you experience. If you want to learn more, Drew from 198methods put together a more detailed explanation & video about this EPA process (which goes back to 2015 and Obama’s “Clean Power Plan” that was one of his major goals for the Paris Climate Agreement.) Spoiler alert: the Supreme Court’s dirty hands are all over this.
Thank you in advance for taking three minutes to submit your comment to the EPA and Biden!
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One last note: I want to put September 17th on your radar. The March to End Fossil Fuels will be held in New York City from 1p – 4pm that day. The march will coincide with the UN Climate Action Summit and is being organized by a coalition of local and national organizations. There’s tons of info here, including links to volunteer (including making phone calls & sending texts) and/or donate in support of the march. The GET INVOLVED page has more info, including “hubs” (both by interest AND region) that you can join. This is a massive and exciting effort that has huge potential to shift climate policy.
Thank you for reading this far! Remember, there’s so much worth fighting for and together we can create a livable future. Solidarity! ✊🏽
Tracy Abell 