Dive Brief:
- Acting Assistant EPA Administrator Janet McCabe hinted to a Senate committee that the administration is prepared to loosen the timeframe on early interim goals under the Clean Power Plan (CPP), ClimateWire reports.
- McCabe's comments address concerns that the CPP puts too much emphasis on the early efforts states take to reduce carbon emissions, with most reductions due in 2020.
- Ultimately, McCabe tied the CPP to health benefits she said "will deliver tens of billions of dollars in public health and climate benefits."
Dive Insight:
It's always in the Q&A when things get good.
Acting Assistant U.S. EPA Administrator Janet McCabe addressed a the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works recently, basically saying what one would expect: "We predict that, in 2030, average electricity bills for American families will be 8 percent cheaper than they are projected to be without the Clean Power Plan."
McCabe also discussed the health benefits, saying the plan will lead to thousands of fewer heart attacks and tens of thousands fewer asthma attacks.
Following testimony the committee asked McCabe about possibilities to delay interim goals, which many utilities have said place too much emphasis on progress that must be made by 2020.
"A lot of the anxiety is about meeting an interim goal in that time period. That is something that we're looking very, very closely at," McCabe told the committee.
EPA has already delayed finalizing the regulations until this summer. Following the comment period, regulators revealed the agency had received more than 4 million comments on the plan.
