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UD professor offers analysis of Pres. Obama's lean Power Plan

Delaware Public Media

 Last week, the Obama Administration unveiled its latest attack on climate change. The Clean Power Plan -- the federal government’s first-ever effort to regulate carbon as a pollutant -- will give the EPA authority to impose carbon emissions limits on power plants.

Electric power generation accounts for nearly 40 percent of the country’s carbon emissions. The Clean Power Plan aims to cut 32 percent of emissions, based on 2005 levels, in 15 years.

"I think the plan is a good first step by the Obama Administration," said John Madsen, a University of Delaware professor who focuses on energy.

 

Madsen adds that Delaware is prepared to take on the demands of the initiative and benefit from it.

 

He suggests the First State can take advantage of the federal incentives to expand, for example, offshore wind facilities and notes Delaware is located in the middle of a zone called the Mid-Atlantic bight, where there are reliable wind speeds and directions.

 

“Delaware is uniquely positioned geographically it has the port facilities, it has the expertise that’s being developed here at the center for carbon free integration unit at the university. I think Delaware is in a really good position for the development of offshore wind,” said Madsen.

Madsen concedes the plan is likely to face legal changes in states in major coal producing states like Kentucky and West Virginia, as well as states with strong oil interests, such as Texas and Oklahoma, but he remains optimistic.

"Overall when one looks at the benefits of this particular plan, I think the legal problems will hopefully be worked out and it will move forward," said Madsen. 

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