09/29/2015

On August 3, 2015, in the East Room of the White House, President Obama announced the Clean Power Plan

Here is a transcript of the video.

“Our climate is changing. It’s changing in ways that threaten our economy, our security, and our health. This isn’t an opinion; it’s a fact, backed up by decades of carefully collected data and overwhelming scientific consensus. And it has serious implications for the way that we live now. We can see it, and we can feel it: hotter summers, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, like stronger storms, deeper droughts, and longer wildfire seasons –all disasters that are becoming more frequent, more expensive, and more dangerous. Our own families experience it too.

Over the past three decades asthma rates have more than doubled, and as temperatures keep warming, and smog gets worse, those Americans will be at even greater risk of landing in the hospital. Climate change is not a problem for another generation, not anymore. That’s why on Monday my administration will release the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan, the biggest, most important step we’ve ever taken to combat climate change.

Power plants are the single biggest source of the harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. But until now, there have been no federal limits to the amount of net pollution those plants can dump into the air. Think about that. We limit the amount of toxic chemicals like mercury and sulfur and arsenic in our air and water, and we’re better off for it. But existing power plants can still dump unlimited amounts of harmful carbon pollution into the air we breathe. For the sake of our kids, for the health and safety of all Americans, that’s about to change. We’ve been working with states and power companies to make sure they’ve got the flexibility they need to cut this pollution, all while lowering energy bills, ensuring reliable service, and paving the way for new job-creating innovations that help America lead the world forward.

If you believe like I do, that we can’t condemn our kids and grandkids to a planet that’s beyond fixing, then I’m asking you to share this message with your friends and family. Push your own communities to adopt smarter, more sustainable practices. Remind everyone who represents you that protecting the world we leave to our children is a prerequisite for your vote. Join us, we can do this. It’s time for America, and the world, to act on climate change.”