Burning coal or natural gas releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and carbon pollution causes global warming and climate disruption?the most far-reaching and consequential problems we currently face.

Power plants are responsible for massive amounts of carbon dioxide, at least 31 percent of U.S. total greenhouse gas emissions, and? Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is legally obligated to regulate the carbon dioxide they produce. The EPA released its first standard aimed at cutting carbon from power plants in 2015 known as the "Clean Power Plan1."

The CPP defined the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from power plants ? and made it clear to major polluters that it is no longer acceptable to put unlimited amounts of toxic materials into our air2.

According to EPA projections, by 2030, the Clean Power Plan would cut the electric sector?s carbon pollution by 32 percent nationally, relative to 2005 levels. In 2030 alone, there would be 870 million fewer tons of carbon pollution. This is like canceling out the annual carbon emissions from 70 percent of the nation?s cars or avoiding the pollution from the yearly electricity use of every home in America3.

We need the CPP because the EPA determined in 2009 that greenhouse gas pollution threatens Americans' health and welfare by leading to long-lasting changes in our climate that can have a range of negative effects on human health and the environment. Climate change is one of the greatest environmental and public health challenges we face, and the most vulnerable among us — including children, older adults, people with heart or lung disease and people living in poverty — may be most at risk from the impacts of climate change4.

Despite dozens of scientists and vetted studies backing up the need for this plan, the Trump administration swapped out the Clean Power Plan with the much weaker Affordable Clean Energy rule in 20195. This rule cherry-picks technologies to exclude natural gas co-firing and include technologies that are not generally available, it contains inconsistencies that conflict with the EPA's own processes, and in some cases would actually raise emissions at some plants6.

Reducing carbon?emissions from power plants, and driving investment in clean energy technologies strategies that do so, is an essential step in lessening the impacts of climate change and providing a more certain future for our health, our environment, and future generations.

It's time we stand up for our own the health and prevent future generations from experiencing the worst effects of climate change. Sign the petition below and demand the EPA reinstate the Clean Power Plan.

1. Union of concerned Scientists (10 Oct 2014), "The Clean Power Plan."
2. Environmental Defense Fund (2021), "The Clean Power Plan."
3. National Resources Defense Council (19 September 2017), "What Is the Clean Power Plan?."
4. United states Environmental Protection Agency (3 August 2015), "FACT SHEET: Overview of the Clean Power Plan."
5. Rob Jordan, Stanford News Service (21 June 2019), "Goodbye, Clean Power Plan: Stanford researchers discuss the new energy rule."
6. Dallas Burtraw and Amelia Keyes, Resources for the Future (22 July 2019) "10 Big Little Flaws in EPA?s Affordable Clean Energy Rule."