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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.

Study Shows Savings in Commonwealth with Clean Power Plan

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Tuesday, June 28, 2016   

BOSTON – Implementing the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan could cut carbon emissions and save consumers in the Commonwealth money, according to a new study by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Opponents of the plan maintain that enforcing mandatory reductions in emissions from power plants would bankrupt the nation.

But Marilyn Brown, the study’s author, points out there are cost effective ways to go about it.

"What we're showing is, in fact, if done wisely, we can save consumers money and also prevent fossil fuels from heating up the planet," she states.

Local consumers are likely to face a major spike in their utility bills over the next 15 years. But the report finds implementing the Clean Power Plan, would produce an average saving for Massachusetts households over the same period of just over $2,000.

The U.S. Supreme Court put the plan on hold during a legal challenge by 27 states and a number of corporations.

But Mike Tipping, communications director for Maine People's Alliance, says the plan will help people across New England who most need the help.

"Lower-income Mainers have been disproportionately hurt by big swings in oil and gas prices in the past,” he states. “More renewables and more efficiency means more predictability and lower costs."

Even if the courts strike down the EPA's plan, states are free to implement plans of their own.

Some suggest phasing out coal-fired power plants by increasing reliance on natural gas, but that's also a potent contributor to climate change.

Brown maintains that increasing energy efficiency is a piece of the puzzle that's often overlooked.

"If we cut back on our electricity requirements by investing in efficient equipment, then we can prevent the build-up of this expensive infrastructure that would not serve the next generation very well," he explains.

Nationally, the goal of the Clean Power Plan is a 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, slowing global climate change, saving billions in health care costs and preventing up to 6,600 premature deaths.





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