The transition to clean energy can be an especially politically contentious issue. That is why focusing on economic impacts of clean power is so attractive. As state, city and community leaders look for ways to slash utility costs, clean power investments increasingly present a solution.
The Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) aims to nudge states to adopt clean power, but recent court challenges have put a hold on the new policy's chances for quick implementation. However, many states are moving forward nevertheless. State leaders have a simple decision to make: choose to stall investments in clean energy and wait for the courts to reach a decision, or simply invest in clean energy that will decrease energy bills, bring improved health and living standards, and create local jobs.
By acting fast, states are able, under the CPP, to sell excess energy across state lines to their neighbors who may not have adopted clean energy. This creates an incentive structure for local, regional and state leaders to get in quick and construct clean power sources—potentially bringing profits to state coffers.
The benefits of acting on climate are increasingly difficult to ignore, despite one’s political preferences. Mayors and state leaders must communicate the benefits of implementing climate solutions and get residents on board. To find out the best way of communicating with residents in your city, visit Path to Positive Communities today!
That’s right. Forget the red and blue, the heated tempers and rising rhetoric. Instead think about the coal factories that still power much of the country, and who pays for every pound of carbon they add to the atmosphere. Right now, your state is making bets on its future economy, by choosing whether or not to change those factories by acting preemptively on a contested emissions rule.
That rule is the Clean Power Plan, which is currently locked up in a Washington, DC circuit court pending legal review. The rules were set to go into effect in June, which would have required every state to submit their plans to cut emissions to the EPA by September 2016, or September 2018 with an extension. Last month, though, the Supreme Court decreed that states would not be obligated to comply with the rule until after it wins in court. And if it loses, never.