This plan aims to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions from America's power plants by 32 percent by the year 2030. This plan will be very expensive but I think the cost will definitely be worth it.
I believe that Texas should accept the EPA's (United States Environmental Protection Agency) Clean Power Plan. We see movies showing people what will happen because of pollution for their entertainment, but we rarely see anyone actually make a huge difference about it. There are people and small community programs that do things together to make the environment better but it seems to me that its only decreasing the pollution by a little. We need a nation wide plan that all states will use together. Here are my main reasons of why Texas should adopt this plan and become part of it:
- The plan has been revised and worked on for a long time and the final plan is more flexible and fair.
- It will strengthen and move the programs that are trying to achieve a cleaner environment faster and better.
- If all states in America adopt to this goal, it will motivate other countries especially China to come up with ideas to make our home, Earth healthier.
- The plan's commitment and dedication is shown by having customized goals for each state to decrease the air pollution.
A post in the blog The Lone Star State Diary titled Waking Up in Texas to Clean Fresh Air was written with what seems to be the hope of combating global warming.
ReplyDeleteLet's make something clear before I proceed: besides not buying into the whole "global warming is our fault" scheme, I feel that it is part of the natural course of action that the planet is on. I mean, there was an Ice Age and before that there was a tropical climate everywhere. I think there's supposed to be global warming.
Moving on. The idealistic nature of the listed points in the post is the main issue as I feel that none of them hold much water.
1.The plan has been revised and worked on for a long time and the final plan is more flexible and fair.
I feel the aforementioned plan is very limited and as the population continues to grow the desire/need for more power plants will also grow so any reduction in the current structure will be a drop in the bucket by the time the mandated deadline arrives.
2. It will strengthen and move the programs that are trying to achieve a cleaner environment faster and better.
I think that this plan will not impact other programs as the continued incursions into the environment will occur with the harvesting of the natural resources that continually appear underground.
3. If all states in America adopt to this goal, it will motivate other countries especially China to come up with ideas to make our home, Earth healthier.
China and India are some of the biggest offenders when it comes to pollution and, like their population rise, they have made very limited moves to decrease it.
4. The plan's commitment and dedication is shown by having customized goals for each state to decrease the air pollution.
The plan is one thing, but actions are what counts. As previously mentioned, I feel the growing population will create growing demand for energy and I also feel that most people are not willing to sacrifice creature comforts like air conditioning for the good of the environment.
Overall, the post was put together well albeit with a lot more hope than my curmudgeony self has.
In “Waking Up in Texas to Clean Fresh Air,” it is suggested that Texas should adopt the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to improve the environment. The blog mentions how the plan will require a reduction in greenhouse gases by coal-powered electric generating plants, however it provides no evidence for supporting the plan’s approval and acceptance. While acknowledging that the plan will be expensive, it is asserted that the “cost will be worth it” but neglects to mention the fact that this cost will be recurring and potentially harmful to the economy. Furthermore, it is suggested in the blog that Texas needs to accept this plan because “Texas is a big state [with fracking and oil production];” however, fracking and producing oil have little relevance to greenhouse gases. Finally, it is suggested that Texas has a choice of adopting this plan: it doesn’t. This plan will be forced on Texas and all other states by the federal government.
ReplyDeleteGreenhouse gases are released by both natural and human processes around the world. These include among other activities, decomposition of organic matter, ocean releases, respiration, cement production, deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels. While some of these processes are susceptible to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, others are not. Coal-fired power plants can be controlled to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases, as this blog indicates, the costs will be high, which could lead to shutting down many of these plants.
There is no discussion of the downsides of the plan or the closing of these electric plants. Besides making electricity less available, and possibly raising the price of electricity, there are some benefits that can be achieved from coal plants. Studies are being done to determine the reductions in greenhouse gases in cement production that are available by replacing cement with fly ash, one of the residues generated by coal combustion. These studies have shown that, by replacing 60% of the cement used in Texas concrete production with fly ash, carbon dioxide emissions, a primary greenhouse gas, could be reduced by 6.6 million tons annually, which is a substantial reduction. With the adoption of the Clean Power Plan, programs, such as a new way to produce concrete, will be eradicated rather than strengthen and moved along faster and better. Additionally, the blog refers to “small community programs” that are “only decreasing pollution by a little,” but makes no mention of the hundreds of research groups around the nation that are making huge steps to solving the problem of greenhouse gases. Further, it is unlikely that adoption of the Clean Power Plan in the U.S. will cause China, which produces vastly more greenhouse gases, to incur these types of costs to reduce its greenhouse gases. If reduction is not made on a global scale, then Obama’s plan is just wasting money.
When deciding whether the Clean Power Plan is worth the costs, there are several aspects that must be considered. First consider how the Clean Power Plan will affect the electric industry in America if coal-fired power were replaced with gas-fired power. What will happen if we have another gas shortage? Having more than one type of fuel helps to ensure that enough electricity can be generated. Another consideration is that the cost of implementing these changes introduced in the Clean Power Plan could outweigh the benefits of changing the source of power. Greenhouse gases are also a global issue. Implementing the Clean Power Plan will result in only a small portion of the world’s carbon emission being decreased as other countries, such as China, will most likely not follow our lead to reduce carbon emissions. Another consideration that needs to be taken into account is how the Clean Power Plan could affect and harm other plans to reduce carbon emission that are currently being used and working. Much thought and thorough consideration must be put into how much the Clean Power Plan will help or harm solutions to a problem that is being addresses every day.