President Barack Obama is set to announce on Monday a new rule that will look to help reduce carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants.
Through the Environmental Protection Agency, Obama will institute a rule that will place a cap on emissions from coal power plants, placing the power in the hands of each state to figure out the best method for doing so, reports .
The belief is that proper implementation through a myriad of different options, including increasing energy production through renewable sources, that carbon pollution created by coal power plants will be reduced by 20 percent. Other options states have is to tax plants that exceed the cap or have the plants install more energy efficient equipment and technology.
"Today, about 40 percent of America's carbon pollution comes from power plants. But right now, there are no national limits to the amount of carbon pollution that existing plants can pump into the air we breathe," the president said in a weekly address.
According to The Associated Press, Obama opted to also use the 'think of the children' angle in order to try and sway any critics to the plan.
"I refuse to condemn our children to a planet that's beyond fixing," Obama noted. "In America, we don't have to choose between the health of our economy and the health of our children."
While the plan hasn't been fully revealed just yet, opponents are already firing back. "We all want clean air and clean water," Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) retorted. "We don't want costly regulations that make little or no difference, that are making things less affordable."
image courtesy of INFphoto.com