The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is set to issue a climate change plan on Friday according to a Feb. 8 article in The Hill. The draft EPA Climate Change Adaptation Plan accepts rapidly increasing global warming as a fact. Global warming and greenhouse gasses are major components of climate change planning policy. The draft will be available to the public in Friday’s edition of the Federal Register and the public will have sixty days to take notice and comment.
A preview notice stated, “Until now, EPA has been able to assume that climate is relatively stable and future climate would mirror past climate. However, with climate changing at an increasingly rapid rate and outside the range to which society has adapted in the past, climate change is posing new challenges to EPA’s ability to fulfill its mission.”
Climate change action plans describe strategies and specific policy recommendations for federal, state and local governments to use when they address climate change and seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA has examples of state level climate change plans.
The EPA Climate Change page also has an interactive web page that is a portal to comprehensive information by region and topic.
While the agency gave no advance details, the planned release date is days before the President gives his State of the Union Address. President Obama has been outspoken about climate change, having addressed the issue in his second inaugural address. He is expected to address climate change in the State of the Union speech.
Expectations are high that the climate change plan will recommend new federal rules, and cracking down on air pollution from major sources. The plan may consider proposing new emission standards on existing power plants.
Expectations are also high that any new initiatives or rules will face resistance from industries and opposition political parties. If the past is any indicator, there will also be more litigation in the coming months and years.
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