The removal of the federal Clean Power Plan will cause factors contributing to global warming to continue, professors in environmental fields say.

Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced the withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan, which set specific standards to reduce carbon emissions in each state.

Neal Abrams, an associate professor of chemistry and renewable energies at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, said removing the CPP will have no change on the current state of affairs.

The effects of removing the CPP are the reasons it was implemented in the first place, Abrams said. Carbon dioxide levels will continue to rise along with global temperatures and water levels.

Henry Lambright, a professor of public administration, international affairs and political science at Syracuse University, said the plan’s withdrawal will make it more difficult for the country to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord.

Lambright, who specializes in environmental policy, predicted public policy decisions will be delayed or exceedingly contested in the future.

“I don’t see an ‘ideal’ replacement plan coming out of the Trump administration,” Lambright said. Even Obama’s original plan was “inadequate” to meet the challenges of climate change, he added.

Both Abrams and Lambright said they believe some businesses and states will follow the standards of the CPP. Lambright said California and New York will likely make efforts to meet those standards, while states such as West Virginia and Wyoming will not.

Without pressure from the federal government, producers of carbon dioxide and state regulators may not try to meet CPP standards.

Abrams said some businesses will still try to follow the standards set by the CPP, but they will do so out of public pressure and internal moral obligations to environmental stewardship.

The ideal replacement of the CPP, Abrams said, “would limit emissions as well as empower newer technologies that use renewable energy and distributed power generation. This includes solar and wind as well as technologies like microgrids, ride-sharing and any other energy-based commodity or sector.”

A replacement of the CPP is not the only policy and tactic to reduce greenhouse emissions. Abrams said there should be energy storage, so baseload power could be lowered.

There should be more policy and enforcement of Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, he said, which are meant to improve the vehicle fuel efficiency. Abrams also said transitioning to distributed and renewable power generation could combat greenhouse emissions.

“I would like to see a vast increase in research and development to provide breakthrough technologies that I think we will need over the long run to deal with climate change impacts,” Lambright said.

Published on October 29, 2017 at 10:58 pm

Contact Jessica: jlandreo@syr.edu