Carbon Pollution
CARBON POLLUTION: An Urgent Threat from Coal
Carbon pollution is the main contributor to climate disruption and is linked to life-threatening air pollution like the smog that causes asthma attacks, making it a serious threat to Americans’ health and future.
During the summer of 2011, Texas’ historic extreme heat and dry climate contributed to an unprecedented fire season that destroyed 2,909 homes and killed 10 people.(1) Dangerous wildfires in the west, record-breaking heat in the Southwest and Midwest, and melting glaciers in Alaska all point towards a disturbing trend. Scientists have settled the argument; climate disruption is happening and carbon pollution is a major contributor.
Yet even though doctors and scientists confirm that carbon pollution poses serious threats to Americans’ health, our economy, and our children’s future, there are currently no federal limits on the amount of carbon being spewed into the air by the nation’s largest sources of carbon pollution – dirty coal-fired power plants.
President Obama and EPA Taking Action
President Obama's EPA made history in late March of 2012 by proposing the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution for power plants.
The air quality protections will allow the EPA to focus on industries that create the lion’s share of the nation’s carbon pollution. The protections will also help reduce life-threatening air pollutants like dangerous soot and toxic mercury, which are released with carbon when power plants burn coal.
The EPA is asking for public comments on their proposal -- it's our opportunity to be heard.
Carbon Pollution Safeguards Protect Public Health and Spur Innovation
By setting up carbon pollution protections, EPA is moving to clean up and modernize the way we power our country. These protections will ensure our kids, our families and America’s workforce is healthier, while creating much-needed jobs and fighting climate disruption. By transitioning from dangerous, outdated coal to 21st-century clean energy technologies, America will become a leader in innovation, increasing global competitiveness and producing long-term, American-made jobs.
21st-Century Jobs
Generating electricity with solar creates seven times more jobs than doing so with coal.(2) We cannot accept more dangerous coal while our friends and family miss days of school and work, sometimes ending up in the emergency room instead.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, there are 285 solar companies creating jobs in Colorado.(3) In Indiana, a planned solar panel factory will create 850 new jobs by next year.(4) In Pennsylvania, there is enough solar energy to power 10,800 homes, and in New York, there is enough solar energy to power 10,900 homes.(5)
Check out the power of solar in your state!
- Campbell, Steve. "Historic fire season ends this week in Texas, but officials brace for worse." Star-Telegram 12 Nov 2011.
- Kammen, David M et al, 2004, Report of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab, Putting Renewables to Work: How Many Jobs Can the Clean Energy Industry Create?, Energy Resources Group, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Wei, Max et al, 2010, Putting Renewables to Work: How Many Jobs Can the Clean Energy Industry Create?, Energy Resources Group, Goldman School of Public Policy and the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, in Energy Policy, vol 38, issue 2, February 2010.
- Solar Energy Industries Association. "Solar Across America." Web. 5 March 2012.
- Solar Energy Industries Association. "Solar Across America." Web. 5 March 2012.
- Solar Energy Industries Association. "Solar Across America." Web. 5 March 2012.
