Washington, D.C. – The Center for American Progress has released the second paper in a series looking at how extreme weather caused by a changing climate is the single most-dire risk to the nation’s energy infrastructure. The series also debunks myths that the Clean Power Plan would threaten energy grid reliability.
The Midwest and Great Plains are home to geographically diverse states with similarly diverse economies. These states often acquire power from different sources, ranging from fossil fuel plants and nuclear plants to renewable sources. However, each state has seen the effects that extreme weather can have on their electricity infrastructure. Earlier this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency released the Clean Power Plan, or CPP, an important set of regulations on the nation’s power sources designed to combat the threat of climate change and protect the energy grid from the associated risks.
Unfortunately, some policymakers and stakeholders in the fossil fuel industry have falsely claimed that the Clean Power Plan itself would negatively affect grid reliability, ignoring the real threat that is climate change and attempting to undermine the very set of policies designed to combat it.
“Too many with vested interest in the perpetual use of fossil fuels for power generation in the Midwest and Great Plains have been trying to fit the CPP with a black hat,” said Myriam Alexander-Kearns, CAP Research Associate and author of the series. “Unfortunately, the exact opposite is true. Climate change itself is the greatest risk to our energy security, and the CPP is one tool to combat that risk and protect the electric grid.”
This is the second in a series of papers—the first of which focused on the Southwest—looking at how each region’s energy infrastructure has been negatively affected by extreme weather events and how the Clean Power Plan will aid in protecting the nation’s electric grid.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.