Starvin Larry

First time’s the charm.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy said Monday there’s no backup plan in case the agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan – the first federal measure limiting carbon emissions from existing power plants – is overturned in court.

“It will be legally solid,” McCarthy said during a lunch event hosted by Politico. “I don’t need a Plan B if I’m solid on my Plan A.”

She added: “We’re going to deliver.”

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EPA’s Clean Power Plan May See Changes, McCarthy Says

Oil and coal groups, certain utilities and conservative lawmakers in statehouses and on Capitol Hill have loudly opposed the Clean Power Plan, a still-to-be-finalized measure that aims to slash power plants’ carbon emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Opponents say the plan, by forcing older and more heavily polluting coal and oil plants offline, will raise electricity rates and decrease the electric grid’s reliability. Already, it faces a challenge in a federal appeals court, while the Supreme Court last week heard arguments over separate EPA rules on toxic air pollutants.

“EPA’s [Clean Power Plan] will cost Americans more … out of their own pocket to use less energy,” Laura Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, posted on Twitter on Monday.

Clean Power Plan and EPA supporters are skeptical of opponents’ claims, and states that generate a greater share of energy from renewable sources like wind and solar have experienced lower electricity prices compared to those that rely more heavily on fossil fuels, according to a study published earlier this month by the venture capital firm DBL Investors, which funds clean energy projects.

McCarthy in particular has emphasized that the Clean Power Plan will prove a boon to state economies by reducing health costs for people living downwind of coal- and oil-fired power plants, and by spurring investment in clean energy facilities.

“Under this administration we’re seeing basically solar move tenfold, and we’ve seen wind move threefold,” McCarthy said Monday. “There’s more job growth.”

President Barack Obama has made confronting climate change a central issue of his second term, harnessing the EPA, Energy Department and Interior Department to sidestep opposition in Congress and reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

This week, he is expected to unveil the nation’s plan to cut emissions ahead of a U.N. climate summit in Paris.

“My hope and my full expectation is he has outlined an ambitious but compelling argument on why we need to take action now,” McCarthy said. “I have a clear path forward, and we’re going to move ahead.”

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/03/30/gina-mccarthy-clean-power-plan-doesnt-need-a-plan-b