Web Video: Will new clean power regulations stand up to challenges?

GWEN IFILL: The president has made his climate change plans a major part of his second-term, legacy-making agenda. Today, he laid out new details about a key component of his strategy: regulating power plant emissions.

But within moments of his speech, opponents within some industries and in many states were resisting the stricter standards.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Today, after working with states and cities and power companies, the EPA is setting the first ever nationwide standards to end the limitless dumping of carbon pollution from power plants.

(APPLAUSE)

GWEN IFILL: With that, the president formally announced an even tougher clean power plan than expected.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: So, the idea of setting standards and cutting carbon pollution is not new. It’s not radical. What is new is that starting today, Washington is starting to catch up with the vision of the rest of the country.

GWEN IFILL: The rule, to be implemented by the EPA, means power plants must cut carbon dioxide emissions 32 percent by 2030. That’s from 2005 levels. Such a reduction would be up from a 30 percent cut in the original draft. The revised rule also calls for generating 28 percent of U.S. power from renewable energy, up from 22 percent.

At the same time, it gives states extra time to begin reducing emissions. Industry groups and a number of states pushed back today, saying the rule will cost jobs and cause spikes in energy prices. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, representing the coal state of Kentucky, promised to block the plan.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), Majority Leader: It represents a triumph of blind ideology over sound policy and honest compassion. And in Kentucky, these regulations will likely mean fewer jobs, shuttered power plants, higher electricity costs for families and businesses. So, I’m not going to sit by while the White House takes aim at the lifeblood of our state’s economy.

GWEN IFILL: Republican presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, also rejected the EPA plan.

JEB BUSH, Republican Presidential Candidate: It’s typical of the Obama administration, taking executive power he doesn’t have. And I believe it’s unconstitutional, and I think in a relatively short period of time, the courts will determine that as well.

GWEN IFILL: Democrats, including White House hopeful Hillary Clinton, generally support the plan. In a statement, she called it “a significant step forward in meeting the urgent threat of climate change.” And she added: “It’s a good plan. And, as president, I would defend it.”

Before the day was out, a major coal mining firm, Murray Energy Corporation, filed what’s expected to be the first of many suits over the rule.

For a closer look at the new rules, and how the administration plans to defend them, we turn first to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. I spoke with her a short time ago.

Administrator McCarthy, welcome.

GINA MCCARTHY, Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency: Thank you, Gwen.

GWEN IFILL: The president said today this announcement, this plan is part of a longer, bigger, more sweeping global climate plan.

But just talking about the U.S. portion of it, for some people, that sounds like their worst nightmare, that it’s part of a bigger plan. And for some people, they say this is just the beginning. Why is it not too much overreaching?

GINA MCCARTHY: Well, I think you know, Gwen, we did tremendous outreach on this plan, and this clean power plan is really the biggest step forward we’re taking to combat climate change, but also to protect our kids’ future and the planet.

It sets the first ever carbon pollution standards for our power sector, because they’re the biggest generator of carbon pollution. And it’s also going to make sure that we drive down other traditional air pollutants.

But what we learned during that comment period was how we could do this smarter and smarter, how we could make it legally solid, how we can actually do this in a way that will keep our energy reliable and affordable, provide billions of dollars in benefits over the course of this rule. And it actually, in the end, will mean lower energy bills for families.

So we think we hit the mark here. We did a lot of outreach. We think we did it right. And we know that states and utilities are going to be able to work with us to get their plans in and get the reductions that we really need to protect public health and get that big action you need globally.

GWEN IFILL: I want to circle back to you on several of the points you just made, but, first of all, you mentioned how many comments there were. There were four million public comments.

GINA MCCARTHY: Yes.

GWEN IFILL: And yet this president could promulgate this rule and the next president could never implement it.

GINA MCCARTHY: Actually, it doesn’t quite work that way under the Clean Air Act. Congress gave the president the authority and EPA the responsibility to move forward with rules like this.

But it actually isn’t that easy to undo. It has a solid legal foundation, a strong record, and it will stay in place. And we’re confident that because of all the work we did with the states that we are going to see them respond. We didn’t just take comments. We listened to it. We made changes. They will see that.

And I think everybody across the U.S. is beginning to realize that the worst thing we can do is the take no action on climate change.

GWEN IFILL: The president said today if we don’t do it, nobody will, speaking of the world, the global impact here.

We know China has taken some steps, but how do you know that the U.S. making this step will have any effect on other nations?

GINA MCCARTHY: Well, the one thing we know for sure is if the U.S. doesn’t act and we don’t lead, then we will not get action.

So, we already saw when we put the proposal out that we had countries coming in, likely really whether the U.S. was finally going to provide the leadership that we always provide. And what the president recognized is that we could make a big leap forward. It would be good for us domestically. It will help grow the economy and jobs.

These industries that we’re supporting here are actually the industries where growth is happening, like solar and wind. So we are not taking away the benefits. We’re actually adding benefits to the American public.

But, immediately, there was response by other world economies and the largest to be able to meet and see how they could join. They know that the winner in this market globally that actually takes action on climate will have tremendous opportunities to actually have the technologies and the services that the rest of the world will want to see.

So this isn’t about a problem. This is about turning a problem into a tremendous economic opportunity for the U.S. domestically and internationally. Other countries will want to be part of that action.

GWEN IFILL: Domestically, is it also part of your intention to let the utilities ultimately take the lead on this, rather than government?

GINA MCCARTHY: Well, I think what happens in this particular part of the Clean Air Act is that we set a standard, the states do their plans.

But we know that the states are sensitive to the needs of their utilities, and the utilities are going to have a part at the table. But this has broader stakeholder engagement that we started. And when they develop the plans, we expect states to have a robust table, because we don’t want them to just reduce pollution. We want them to do it in a way that benefits their economy and in a way that keeps their lights on and keeps it affordable.

They all can do it, every state. This is legally solid. This is sticking around. We think states will take it seriously, as will utilities.

GWEN IFILL: You keep mentioning affordability.

If I’m a regular consumer of coal-fired electricity, I would be a little nervous about the fact that what you’re proposing is actually going to cost in the short and the long term a little bit more.

GINA MCCARTHY: Well, we can show you how this works, but, in the interim between proposal and final, we got great comments.

And we are turning this into real opportunities for trading across states. We know that, as a result of this rule, every single fuel will have a place at the table. Will there be as much coal as there used to be? No, there won’t, because we’re not driving coal up, we’re driving carbon pollution down. But they will still be part of the energy mix, as will natural gas. That’s still as valuable as it has been before.

And we are going to drive more renewables into the market because frankly the market is actually rewarding renewables now. We see tremendous growth. And we’re following that wave. My job is to reduce carbon pollution, not dictate the energy mix. And you will see everybody has a place at the table in 2030, just like they do today.

GWEN IFILL: Well, and, finally, how can you be so confident that this will withstand legal scrutiny? It’s already in the courts.

GINA MCCARTHY: Well, one of the values of having all these comments is, I think everybody and their brother already told us what they thought was legally vulnerable.

But we spent a lot of time talking to people. We have looked at this. We are very confident that it is legally solid. We did listen to comments. If people had a question about legal authority or whether we were technically correct, we have resolved those issues during that period.

And we are confident that this is going to stand the test of time, but even more confident that people in this country are sick and tired of being worried about climate change and they want leadership. This president has provided that leadership. And now it’s time to embrace it and to act together.

GWEN IFILL: EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, thank you very much.

GINA MCCARTHY: Thank you, Gwen.