Obama makes impassioned plea for clean energy in Argentina
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CORDOBA, Argentina: Former US president Barack Obama made an impassioned plea on Friday (Oct 6) for the world to embrace clean energy and overcome climate change at a gathering of experts in Argentina.
Obama told an audience of government ministers, business leaders and young environmental activists they were part of a generation with the scientific means and imagination to begin to repair the planet.
"This is no longer speculation, this is no longer an issue that we can put off, this is firmly in the present."
"If we take advantage of this critical time, we have the chance to slow and even stop a trend that could be disastrous," said Obama, who signed the Paris climate agreement that President Donald Trump has controversially signalled his intention to abandon.
"We cannot condemn our children and their children to a future they cannot repair," said Obama.
"We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change but we're also the last generation that can do something about it."
Despite pulling out of the Paris deal, he said, "the good news is that the United States will hit its targets despite a different approach by the incoming administration.
"Because so much of what we did is now embedded in our economy and in our culture, because our states and cities, our universities, our largest companies, have made it clear that they will keep pushing forward for the sake of future generations."
But Obama also warned the Paris accord would not solve the climate crisis on its own, and that as technology evolved, more ambitious targets would have to be set.
"If we set bolder targets then we will open the floodgates for businesses, scientists, engineers to reach the high-tech low carb investment and innovation that's needed on a scale we've never seen before."
The two-day Green Economy conference in the central city of Cordoba heard from experts including Nobel economic laureate Edmund Phelps that the global fight for clean energy rests with businesses and ordinary people because governments were lagging behind.
Obama kept with the theme, saying young people in particular "understand this is not just a job for politicians."
"We've got to educate our friends, our families, our colleagues, and describe what's at stake. And we need to speak up in town halls, and in churches. We need to push back against those who would try to spread misinformation, and deny science."
Although the internet was providing more access to knowledge that ever before, he said, "if you watch Fox News you probably don't believe climate change is such a problem."
"If we can look beyond the daily news cycle and think about the basics, the air that our children breathe, if that is our focus and we're willing to put that above any short term interests then it won't be too late."
He highlighted how the ocean was rising to threaten Miami, one of the largest cities in the US.
"It's very hard to build a dam around Miami because the water is coming up through the ground. It's porous, that's the reason why even on a sunny day there are parts of Miami now where you'll see a foot of water running down the street."
BUSINESS ON BOARD
Obama said business leaders had to be reminded that there was no contradiction between a clean environment and strong economic growth.
But Phelps also warned against climate change provoking "mass hysteria" and leading to over-regulation, which he said would be an "innovation killer."
"If an entrepreneur has to demonstrate to a whole bunch of government agencies that he is not going to cause any pollution, then we would lose the normal tendency of new companies and new ideas starting up," said Phelps, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2006.
The United States is the world's second biggest producer of greenhouse gases after China and its withdrawal was seen as a body blow to the landmark 2015 agreement, which commits signatories to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
Twenty-five US corporate giants including Apple, Google and Facebook, Unilever and Levi Strauss had publicly urged the US president to stick with the Paris agreement, arguing that it offered a chance for the United States to take the lead in clean energy.
Major American companies denounced his decision to pull out, including industrial and energy corporations, which have been working for years to reduce their carbon footprints.
Source: AFP/ec Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/obama-makes-impassioned-plea-for-clean-energy-in-argentina-9288764
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, talks to a reporter after speaking at Whayne Supply in Hazard, Ky, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Pruitt says the Trump administration will abandon the Obama-era clean power plan aimed at reducing global warming. (AP Photo/Adam Beam)
HAZARD, Ky. (AP) -- The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that he will sign a new rule overriding the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era effort to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
"The war on coal is over," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt declared in the coal mining state of Kentucky. He said no federal agency "should ever use its authority" to "declare war on any sector of our economy."
For Pruitt, getting rid of the Clean Power Plan will mark the culmination of a long fight he began as the elected attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt was among about two-dozen attorney generals who sued to stop President Barack Obama's push to limit carbon emissions.
Closely tied to the oil and gas industry in his home state, Pruitt rejects the consensus of scientists that man-man emissions from burning fossil fuels are the primary driver of global climate change.
President Donald Trump, who appointed Pruitt and shares his skepticism of established climate science, promised to kill the Clean Power Plan during the 2016 campaign as part of his broader pledge to revive the nation's struggling coal mines.
In his order Tuesday, Pruitt is expected to declare that the Obama-era rule exceeded federal law by setting emissions standards that power plants could not reasonably meet.
Pruitt appeared at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at Whayne Supply, a Hazard, Kentucky, company that sells coal mining supplies. The store's owners have been forced to lay off about 60 percent of its workers in recent years.
While cheering the demise of the Clean Power Plan as a way to stop the bleeding, McConnell conceded most of those lost jobs are never coming back.
"A lot of damage has been done," said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. "This doesn't immediately bring everything back, but we think it stops further decline of coal fired plants in the United States and that means there will still be some market here."
Obama's plan was designed to cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The rule dictated specific emission targets for states based on power-plant emissions and gave officials broad latitude to decide how to achieve reductions.
The Supreme Court put the plan on hold last year following legal challenges by industry and coal-friendly states.
Even so, the plan helped drive a recent wave of retirements of coal-fired plants, which also are being squeezed by lower costs for natural gas and renewable power, as well as state mandates promoting energy conservation.
The withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan is the latest in a series of moves by Trump and Pruitt to dismantle Obama's legacy on fighting climate change, including the delay or roll back of rules limiting levels of toxic pollution in smokestack emissions and wastewater discharges from coal-burning power plants.
The president announced earlier this year that he will pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate agreement. Nearly 200 countries have committed to combat global warming by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
"This president has tremendous courage," Pruitt said Monday. "He put America first and said to the rest of the world we are going to say no and exit the Paris Accord. That was the right thing to do."
Environmental groups and public health advocates quickly derided the decision as short sighted.
"Trump is not just ignoring the deadly cost of pollution, he's ignoring the clean energy deployment that is rapidly creating jobs across the country," said Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club.
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Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker reported from Washington. Follow him at http://twitter.com/mbieseck
Environmental groups denounce Trump override of climate plan
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, talks to a reporter after speaking at Whayne Supply in Hazard, Ky, Monday, Oct. 9, 2017. Pruitt says the Trump administration will abandon the Obama-era clean power plan aimed at reducing global warming. (AP Photo/Adam Beam)
HAZARD, Ky. (AP) -- A coalition of left-leaning states and environmental groups are vowing to fight the Trump administration's move to kill an Obama-era effort to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Speaking Monday in the coal-mining state of Kentucky, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said he would be issuing a new set of rules overriding the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's drive to curb global climate change.
"The war on coal is over," Pruitt declared, adding that no federal agency should ever use its authority to "declare war on any sector of our economy."
It was not immediately clear if Pruitt would seek to issue a new rule without congressional approval, which Republicans had criticized the Obama administration for doing. Pruitt's rule wouldn't become final for months, and is then highly likely to face a raft of legal challenges.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was among those who said they will sue.
"The Trump Administration's persistent and indefensible denial of climate change — and their continued assault on actions essential to stemming its increasing devastation — is reprehensible, and I will use every available legal tool to fight their dangerous agenda," said Schneiderman, a Democrat.
For Pruitt, getting rid of the Clean Power Plan will mark the culmination of a long fight he began as the elected attorney general of Oklahoma. Pruitt was among about two dozen attorney generals who sued to stop Obama's 2014 push to limit carbon emissions, stymieing the limits from ever taking effect.
Closely aligned with the oil and gas industry in his home state, Pruitt rejects the consensus of scientists that man-made emissions from burning fossil fuels are the primary driver of global climate change.
President Donald Trump, who appointed Pruitt and shares his skepticism of established climate science, promised to kill the Clean Power Plan during the 2016 campaign as part of his broader pledge to revive the nation's struggling coal mines.
In his order Tuesday, Pruitt is expected to declare that the Obama-era rule exceeded federal law by setting emissions standards that power plants could not reasonably meet.
Pruitt appeared at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell at Whayne Supply in Hazard, Kentucky, a company that sells coal mining supplies. The store's owners have been forced to lay off about 60 percent of its workers in recent years.
While cheering the demise of the Clean Power Plan as a way to stop the bleeding, McConnell conceded most of those lost jobs are never coming back.
"A lot of damage has been done," said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. "This doesn't immediately bring everything back, but we think it stops further decline of coal fired plants in the United States and that means there will still be some market here."
Obama's plan was designed to cut U.S. carbon dioxide emissions to 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The rule dictated specific emission targets for states based on power-plant emissions and gave officials broad latitude to decide how to achieve reductions.
The Supreme Court put the plan on hold last year following legal challenges by industry and coal-friendly states. Even so, the plan helped drive a recent wave of retirements of coal-fired plants, which are also being squeezed by low cost natural gas and renewable power. In the absence of stricter federal regulations curbing greenhouse gas emissions, many states have issued their own mandates promoting energy conservation.
The withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan is the latest in a series of moves by Trump and Pruitt to dismantle Obama's legacy on fighting climate change, including the delay or roll back of rules limiting levels of toxic pollution in smokestack emissions and wastewater discharges from coal-burning power plants.
On Thursday, Trump nominated former coal-industry lobbyist Andrew Wheeler to serve as Pruitt's top deputy at EPA — one of several recent political appointees at the agency with direct ties to the fossil fuel interests.
The president announced earlier this year that he will pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate agreement. Nearly 200 countries have committed to combat global warming by reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
"This president has tremendous courage," Pruitt said Monday. "He put America first and said to the rest of the world we are going to say no and exit the Paris Accord. That was the right thing to do."
Despite the rhetoric about saving coal, government statistics show that coal mines currently employ only about 52,000 workers nationally — a modest 4-percent uptick since Trump became president. Those numbers are dwarfed by the jobs created by building such clean power infrastructure as wind turbines and solar arrays.
Environmental groups and public health advocates quickly derided Pruitt's decision as short sighted.
"Trump is not just ignoring the deadly cost of pollution, he's ignoring the clean energy deployment that is rapidly creating jobs across the country," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club.
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Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker reported from Washington. Follow him at http://twitter.com/mbieseck
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This story has been corrected to show the percentage of coal jobs created under Trump was 4 percent.
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