Obama Moves to Limit Power-Plant Carbon Pollution

1) http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/obama-takes-on-coal-with-first-ever-carbon-limits/nZ3RN/

2) Category of problem: Environment

3) Level of problem: National

4) The article concerns: Under the proposed law,  the Environmental Protection Agency controls carbon at new plants, it will also control carbon at existing plants. 

5) How does it affect individuals/families? It would set the first national limits on heat-trapping pollution from future power plants, is intended to help reshape where Americans get electricity, moving from a coal-dependent past into a future fired by cleaner sources of energy for everyone.

6) What are your opinions on the issue?

I believe that President Obama's proposal was designed with good intentions but is flawed in some areas. Although I think it is a wonderful and much need push to set requirements to limit carbon pollution for the sake of our planet, and the move to prevent pollution does in fact set President Obama's global warming plans, decreasing power plants would put many American's out of work, trampling over Obama's plan to increase jobs in the United States. 

Under the proposed law,  the Environmental Protection Agency controls carbon at new plants, it will also control carbon at existing plants, while the EPA themselves claim that "the EPA ... does not anticipate this rule will have any impacts on the price of electricity, employment or labor markets or the U.S. economy," others seem to think differently. In the article, a vice president of a coal company claimed, "If these regulations go into effect," he said, "American jobs will be lost, electricity prices will soar and economic uncertainty will grow."His statement was similar to what I was thinking while reading the article, but at the same time I have to consider the weight of the need to stabilize our planet as much as we can while we can, or a couple thousand jobs. I think that his proposed bill would be accepted by more people if President Obama had a set solution to our pollution issue and the a way to secure jobs for those power plant workers if the plan were to go through.