WASHINGTON – Today during
a Georgetown University speech, President Obama will give more details on how
his plan to reduce man-made global warming will work, Eenews.net reports. Via a
video over the weekend, he made the announcement that his ideas will “reduce
carbon pollution, prepare our country for the impacts of climate change and
lead global efforts to fight it.”
The president said his
plan would be good for the country economically as it would provide jobs to
engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists and workers to work on developing a low-carbon
way of life. He harkened back to his inaugural speech in which he said fixing
climate change was necessary for future generations. “When it comes to the
world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can,” he said.
Industry has expressed
concern that the plan would have costly regulations. House Speaker John Boehner
(R-OH) has dismissed the president’s ideas as “absolutely crazy,” and said it would
jack up energy costs, killing more American jobs.
“The law does not allow
the president a broad range of options for addressing carbon emissions from
existing power plants,” said Scott Segal of Bracewell & Guiliani. “If he
pushes the envelope, and suggests a plan with unrealistic timetables or
emissions limits, the plan may well violate the spirit and text of the Clean
Air Act.”
However, environmentalists
are excited about the president’s plan. “He knows that addressing climate
change is not only an obligation we have to the next generation, but something
we owe ourselves — because it means modernizing our energy system in order to
generate electricity that is reliable, affordable, healthy and clean,” said
Fred Kupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund.