{"id":109838,"date":"2015-09-03T16:28:44","date_gmt":"2015-09-03T22:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/groups-defend-epas-clean-power-plan\/"},"modified":"2015-09-03T16:28:44","modified_gmt":"2015-09-03T22:28:44","slug":"groups-defend-epas-clean-power-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/groups-defend-epas-clean-power-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Groups defend EPA\u2019s Clean Power Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. President Barack Obama plans to clamp down on carbon-dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants.<\/span>Jim Cole\/Associated Press file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coffman, a Republican, told The Denver Post the plan would cost jobs, raise utility rates and undercut the state\u2019s authority to regulate power.<\/p>\n

Kim Stevens, state director with Environment Colorado, calls Coffman\u2019s action \u201ca political move\u201d to undercut a big step forward to slow climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the time for Coloradans to stand up and let their decision-makers know they are ready to see them stand up and act on climate and tackle the pollution that\u2019s causing this problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to Stevens, the EPA\u2019s plan will add jobs in the clean-energy sector and eventually cut utility bills by almost $100 per year, on average. She adds that the plan allows states to decide where and how to reduce emissions from existing power plants to meet EPA targets.<\/p>\n

More than 20 states are expected to be a part of the lawsuit challenging the plan.<\/p>\n

Stevens notes Coloradans are already feeling the impacts of a changing climate, from drought to wildfires to historic flooding. She says the Clean Power Plan addresses the largest contributor to climate change \u2013 coal-fired power plants \u2013 which account for 40 percent of emissions in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis plan is the largest single step that our country has ever taken to tackle the pollution that is fueling climate change,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Stevens adds that cracking down on coal and gas \u2013 while ramping up renewables like wind and solar \u2013 is estimated to save more than $50 billion per year in health benefits, and lead to 90,000 fewer asthma attacks in children by 2030.<\/p>\n

Stevens says Environment Colorado and other organizations will continue to pressure Coffman and state officials to fully implement the plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H. President Barack Obama plans to clamp down on carbon-dioxide emissions from existing U.S. power plants.Jim Cole\/Associated Press file photo Coffman, a Republican, told The Denver Post the plan would cost jobs, raise utility rates and undercut the state\u2019s authority to regulate power. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13,1426],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-109838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-renewable-energy"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109838"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=109838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}