Weekly
Address: Reducing Carbon Pollution in Our Power Plants
Children’s National Medical
Center in Washington, D.C.
May 31, 2014
Hi, everybody. I’m here at Children’s National Medical
Center in Washington, D.C., visiting with some kids being treated here all the
time for asthma and other breathing problems.
Often, these illnesses are aggravated by air pollution – pollution from
the same sources that release carbon and contribute to climate change. And for the sake of all our kids, we’ve got
to do more to reduce it.
Earlier this month, hundreds of
scientists declared that climate change is no longer a distant threat – it “has
moved firmly into the present.” Its costs can be measured in lost lives and
livelihoods, lost homes and businesses; and higher prices for food, insurance,
and rebuilding.
That’s why, last year, I put
forward America’s first climate action plan.
This plan cuts carbon pollution by building a clean energy economy –
using more clean energy, less dirty energy, and wasting less energy throughout
our economy.
One of the best things we can do
for our economy, our health, and our environment is to lead the world in
producing cleaner, safer energy – and we’re already generating more clean
energy than ever before. Thanks in part
to the investments we made in the Recovery Act, the electricity America
generates from wind has tripled. And
from the sun, it’s increased more than tenfold. In fact, every four minutes,
another American home or business goes solar – and every panel is pounded into
place by a worker whose job cannot be shipped overseas.
We’re wasting less energy,
too. We’ve doubled how far our cars and
trucks will go on a gallon of gas by the middle of the next decade, saving you
money at the pump – and we’re helping families and businesses save billions
with more efficient homes, buildings, and appliances.
This strategy has created jobs,
grown our economy, and helped make America more energy independent than we’ve
been in decades – all while holding our carbon emissions to levels not seen in
about 20 years. It’s a good start. But for the sake of our children, we have to
do more.
This week, we will. Today, about 40% of America’s carbon
pollution comes from power plants. But
right now, there are no national limits to the amount of carbon pollution that
existing plants can pump into the air we breathe. None. We limit the amount of
toxic chemicals like mercury, sulfur, and arsenic that power plants put in our
air and water. But they can dump
unlimited amounts of carbon pollution into the air. It’s not smart, it’s not safe, and it doesn’t
make sense.
That’s why, a year ago, I
directed the Environmental Protection Agency to build on the efforts of many
states, cities, and companies, and come up with commonsense guidelines for
reducing dangerous carbon pollution from our power plants. This week, we’re unveiling these proposed
guidelines, which will cut down on the carbon pollution, smog, and soot that
threaten the health of the most vulnerable Americans, including children and
the elderly. In just the first year that
these standards go into effect, up to 100,000 asthma attacks and 2,100 heart
attacks will be avoided – and those numbers will go up from there.
These standards were created in
an open and transparent way, with input from the business community. States and local governments weighed in,
too. In fact, nearly a dozen states are
already implementing their own market-based programs to reduce carbon
pollution. And over 1,000 mayors have
signed agreements to cut their cities’ carbon pollution.
So the idea of setting higher standards
to cut pollution at our power plants is not new. It’s just time for Washington to catch up
with the rest of the country.
Now, special interests and their
allies in Congress will claim that these guidelines will kill jobs and crush
the economy. Let's face it, that’s what
they always say.
But every time America has set
clear rules and better standards for our air, our water, and our children’s
health – the warnings of the cynics have been wrong. They warned that doing something about the
smog choking our cities, and acid rain poisoning our lakes, would kill
business. It didn’t. Our air got cleaner, acid rain was cut
dramatically, and our economy kept growing.
These excuses for inaction
somehow suggest a lack of faith in American businesses and American
ingenuity. The truth is, when we ask our
workers and businesses to innovate, they do.
When we raise the bar, they meet it.
When we restricted cancer-causing chemicals in plastics and leaded fuel
in our cars, American chemists came up with better substitutes. When we phased out the gases that depleted
the ozone layer, American workers built better refrigerators and air
conditioners. The fuel standards we put
in place a few years ago didn’t cripple automakers; the American auto industry
retooled, and today, they’re selling the best cars in the world, with more
hybrids, plug-in, and fuel-efficient models to choose from than ever before.
In America, we don’t have to
choose between the health of our economy and the health of our children. The old rules may say we can’t protect our
environment and promote economic growth at the same time, but in America, we’ve
always used new technology to break the old rules.
As President, and as a parent, I
refuse to condemn our children to a planet that’s beyond fixing. The shift to a cleaner energy economy won’t
happen overnight, and it will require tough choices along the way. But a low-carbon, clean energy economy can be
an engine of growth for decades to come.
America will build that engine.
America will build the future. A
future that’s cleaner, more prosperous, and full of good jobs – a future where
we can look our kids in the eye and tell them we did our part to leave them a
safer, more stable world.
Thanks, and have a great weekend. |
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