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Quigley Statement on Trump Administration’s Decision to Repeal the Clean Power Plan

October 10, 2017

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05), who serves as Vice Chair of the Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC), released the following statement after EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced the Trump Administration's intention to repeal the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a decision that further hinders America's ability to reduce harmful air pollution and climate changing greenhouse gas emissions and puts the U.S. at odds with nearly every other nation on the planet. Rep. Quigley previously expressed his strong disagreement when President Trump signed an executive order rolling back the historic plan.

"One doesn't have to be a scientist in order to understand that if we are serious about preserving clean air, we must actively address emissions from the power sector. By scraping the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, this Administration has once again chosen to side with polluters at the peril of the health, safety, and economic wellbeing of every American this government represents," said Rep Mike Quigley. "The American people agree that our policies can and must do better to tackle climate change, which is not just a moral duty, but an economic obligation as well. Just this year, we have witnessed the financial and human costs of devastating extreme weather events and how lives, livelihoods, and entire cities can be devastated in a matter of days. The decision to withdraw the Clean Power Plan is completely tone-deaf to the changing world in which we live. It is not just bad policy; it will put lives at risk and make it that much more difficult to slow the threat of global climate change."

Data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday show that the 15 "weather and climate disaster" events through September 2017 – excluding Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria – cost one billion dollars in damages each.

The Clean Power Plan, launched by the Obama administration in 2015, was designed to lower carbon emissions from existing U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels and required states to adopt their own plans. Despite estimates that the Clean Power Plan would produce a net benefit of between $26 billion and $45 billion in 2030, President Trump signed an executive order in March mandating the EPA to review the plan and in June announced the United States would pull out of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement.

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