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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Merkley, Others Weigh In on EPA's Clean Power Plan

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Wednesday, July 30, 2014   

PORTLAND, Ore. - The hearings aren't anywhere near Oregon this week, but their effects will be far-reaching, as the Environmental Protection Agency takes comments on its Clean Power Plan.

It sets limits by state on the amount of carbon dioxide that can be produced by power plants. Supporters say the new regs would save thousands of lives each year and help reduce the effects of climate change - while critics say the limits would have a devastating economic impact on business.

Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner said this isn't an "either-or" situation.

"We don't have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment," she said. "The two go together. The EPA proposal is just a clear example of that, that you can find these common sense, cost-effective ways to clean our air and protect the health of our communities."

Farming, fishing and forestry all are being affected in Oregon by hotter temperatures and less rainfall, said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., who testified on Tuesday at the EPA's Washington, D.C., hearing. He pointed to the current wildfire season as proof that the nation needs to do more to curb the effects of a warming climate.

Ken Fletcher, advocacy specialist for the American Lung Association, said many people don't realize how costly air pollution is in terms of health. He added that many who are negatively affected by it are children, the elderly and - in some parts of the country - those living in poorer communities near smokestacks.

"It worsens asthma; it triggers asthma attacks, contributes to heart disease," he said. "By putting these rules in place, you could prevent up to 150,000 asthma attacks and 6,600 premature deaths annually by the year 2030."

Oregon is expected to achieve much of its state-specific pollution reduction goal when the Boardman coal plant closes in 2020. But about 20 percent of the power sold by Oregon utilities is generated by out-of-state coal plants.

The closest hearings to Oregon are in Denver, but comments can be submitted on the EPA's website through mid-October.

EPA Clean Power Plan information by state is online at www2.epa.gov.


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