Washington, D.C. — Today, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt officially proposed revoking the Clean Power Plan (CPP), the landmark policy put in place two years ago by the Obama administration to combat climate change. The plan was aimed at setting the first-ever carbon pollution standards for power plants, and revoking it means nullifying its potential benefits, including averted asthma attacks and a safer climate.
To justify his proposal to revoke the CPP, Administrator Pruitt had to use fuzzy math to inflate potential compliance costs in the electricity sector and undervalue benefits to human health and the environment. The Center for American Progress has put together three fact sheets to illustrate the tricks that Pruitt used to skew the math in his favor:
- He assumed that climate change poses little cost—therefore, cutting carbon pollution provides little benefit to human health and the environment.
- He ignored reams of science linking any level of exposure to fine particle pollution to asthma attacks, premature death, and other health effects.
- He pretended that electric utilities would not benefit from energy efficiency programs and counted costs that utilities would never incur.
These fact sheets provide more detail on Pruitt’s attempts to make the costs of the Clean Power Plan appear to outweigh its benefits and are available on the CAP website.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected] or 202.478.6327.