Enviros hype Obama climate push — “Will personally own efforts to combat climate change”

Bloomberg reports:

President Barack Obama will call for more solar and wind projects on public lands and tougher standards for energy-efficient appliances in tomorrow’s speech on climate change, the head of the Sierra Club said.

Obama will “personally own” efforts to combat climate change, a decision that the country’s biggest environmental group sees as a “huge deal,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said today in an interview discussing what he’s been told by administration officials.

http://junkscience.com/2013/06/24/enviros-hype-obama-climate-push-will-personally-own-efforts-to-combat-climate-change/

Obama Said to Expand Clean Energy Projects on Public Land

President Barack Obama will call for more solar and wind projects on public lands and tougher standards for energy-efficient appliances in tomorrow’s speech on climate change, the head of the Sierra Club said.

Obama will “personally own” efforts to combat climate change, a decision that the country’s biggest environmental group sees as a “huge deal,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said today in an interview discussing what he’s been told by administration officials.

Obama announced June 22 that he would unveil a package of initiatives to combat climate change in a speech set for tomorrow at Georgetown University, an announcement that cheered some environmentalists who have been disappointed by his record on the issue so far.

The president didn’t offer details of his plan, which marks an attempt by the president to fulfill the promise made at the start of his second term to tackle the pollution blamed for global warming.

The measures Obama will outline include limits on carbon emissions from existing power plants, according to a person familiar with the White House’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity in advance of the address.

Existing Plants

The administration has proposed limits on greenhouse gases for new plants. Seeking bolder action, environmentalists have lobbied the administration to also place restrictions on the plants now burning fossil fuels that account for about 40 percent of the annual release of carbon emissions in the U.S.

“Combating climate change means curbing carbon pollution - - for the first time ever -- from the biggest single source of such dangerous gases: our coal-fired power plants,” Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a June 22 e-mail. “We stand ready to help President Obama in every way we can.”

Restrictions on carbon emissions may be fought by coal producers including Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) in St. Louis because the rules probably would force utilities to switch to cleaner sources of power, including natural gas and wind. Coal users including American Electric Power (AEP) Co., based in Columbus, Ohio, and Southern Co. (SO) in Atlanta have argued regulations limiting coal use could raise consumer energy costs.

“We do have concerns that limits on existing plants could strand billions that the industry is investing to add additional environmental control” to plants, Melissa McHenry director of external communications for American Electric, said today in an e-mail.

“Any additional U.S. emissions reductions should be carefully considered and targeted to allow swift adaptation throughout the world” so it doesn’t endanger the U.S. economic recovery, she said.

Obama isn’t likely to discuss the proposed Canada-U.S. Keystone XL pipeline, Brune said, because that application for a presidential permit to cross an international border is not yet ready for a decision.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-24/obama-to-expand-clean-energy-projects-on-public-land-brune-says.html