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Obama limits carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants

President Obama speaks at Sempra U.S. Gas and Power's Copper Mountain Solar 1 facility, the largest photovoltaic solar plant in the United States.
(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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As reported on the Los Angeles Times Politics Now blog, the Obama administration on Tuesday announced stringent rules to limit carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. Most climate scientists say that carbon dioxide is the principal gas responsible for global warming.

As pointed out in the story by Neela Banerjee, supporters of emissions standards were surprised and pleased to find the administration pushing forward with these new rules, after some indications lately that the president and his administration might pull back from aggressive new environmental protections during an election year.

However, by pushing for new car and truck fuel economy standards and these new power plant rules, the Obama administration has taken steps to curb pollution from the two largest sources of domestic greenhouse gases.

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Coal industry executives decried the move, saying that the White House was pushing a policy “overtly calculated to destroy a significant portion of America’s electricity supply.” The new rules directly target new coal-fired power plants.

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