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Clean Energy Policy

Candice Jacobs

Strayer University

PAD 510: Introduction to Public Policy Analysis

Instructor: Dr. Timothy Smith

Clean Energy Policy

Overview

In the United States, both the federal, state and local governments have the responsibility of protecting the environment. Air protection is one of the critical pillars of environmental protection. The relevant governing bodies are tasked with formulating and implementing various policies, which are meant to ensure that actions from individuals, businesses, and organizations do not lead to environmental degradation. To achieve maximum success, the federal government has given the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the powers to ensure that there is strict adherence to clean and affordable energy generation. This is aimed at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, which lead to global warming and other adverse environmental conditions.

Clean Energy Policy

The policy sets certain standards aimed at ensuring that there is reduced emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the environment. Notably, greenhouse gases lead to global warming –an adverse climatic conditions that have been experienced globally since the beginning of the industrial revolution. The policy was in line with the topics of the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in 2015 where countries pledged to regulate and reduce the emission of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere (Van de Graaf & van Asselt, 2017).

Brief History of Clean Energy Policy

The approach of combating the widespread issue of global warming was first mentioned by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014 by the plan termed the Clean Power Plan. The plan was meant to regulate coal-burning power industries, which expand across various states in America. The emissions from these coal-burning plants had the worst effects on climate change leading to drought, disturbing rise in sea level, as well as powerful storms, which occurred regularly. The Obama-led administration supported the Clean Power Plan, whose formulation and implementation was steered by the deliberations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in 2015 (Davis, Bollinger & Dijkema, 2016). During the conference, the world’s leading countries in greenhouse gases emission pledged to ensure that the emissions are reduced.

With only China being ahead of the U.S. in terms of emission of greenhouse gases, the latter has revived its efforts to regulate the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere by coal-burning industries spread across the country. President Barrack Obama unveiled the first phase of Clean Energy Policy under the umbrella of Clean Power Plan (CPP) in 2015. In October 2015, the plan was printed in the United States Federal Register. The enactment of Clean Power Plan was actualized in November 2016, shortly after The Paris Agreement that took place in October 2016. Shortly after the policy entered into force, all power generating plants were expected to switch from coal to a more renewable source of energy such as wind and solar (Hoggett, 2014).

In March 2017, the Trump-led government decided to modify the CPP to enable states to set their legislation about the emission of greenhouse gases by coal plants. This began after President Donald Trump signed an executive order giving EPA a go-ahead to modify CPP and introduce Affordable Clean Energy rule (ACE). ACE is relatively weaker since it is less strict as opposed to CPP that was fronted by the Obama-led administration (Keyes et al., 2019). Even though ACE rule is weaker, it adheres to the Clean Air Act, which was established in the early 1940s. ACE came into force in 2018, replacing the Clean Power Plan, which was implemented by the previous regime led by President Barrack Obama.

Notably, there are factors that were linked to the formulation and implementation of Clean Energy Policy, which was conceived during the reign of President Barrack Obama and later modified by his successor, President Donald Trump. These factors can be categorized into social, economic, and political. Notably, before the implementation of clean power policy, there were adverse climatic conditions leading health risks linked to asthma and other respiratory diseases. Moreover, it caused more than 5,500 premature deaths, especially for low-income families living near the industries. Economically, the cost of energy was high, and the alternative source of producing power would save each American family around $100 annually (Clack et al., 2017). Before the implementation of the policy, the power generating plants employed fewer people, but the adoption of a new clean energy policy would create more job opportunities for the Americans. Politically, there was a lot of tension in both the Senate and Congress about the importance of the policy to Americans. During the Obama administration, several Republicans opposed the legislation since it would lead to the high cost of production and strict rules would see most of the coal plants close down. For instance, in 2015, the then Republic Senator in West Virginia, Shelley Moore move to court to oppose the implementation of the Clean Power Plan (Conti et al., 2014). However, during the Trump era when they wanted to modify the Clean Power Plan, Democrats opposed the idea noting that deregulation of the greenhouse emission would lead to more deaths.

Even though the Clean Energy Policy was linked to several benefits, the policy was also weaker and had its shortcomings. First, the legislation risked the jobs for many people since companies, which switch to alternative ways of power generation were forced to close down. Secondly, the Affordable Clean Energy rule was many ways weaker and lacked the strictness since states were at liberty not to impose any laws meant to control the emission of greenhouse gases (Hoggett, 2014). Finally, the coal industry was collapsing due to strict rules, which made it hard for them to operate. The cost went high forcing some of the plants to collapse.

References

Clack, C. T., Qvist, S. A., Apt, J., Bazilian, M., Brandt, A. R., Caldeira, K., ... & Jaramillo, P. (2017). Evaluation of a proposal for reliable low-cost grid power with 100% wind, water, and solar. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(26), 6722-6727.

Conti, J. J., Holtberg, P. D., Beamon, J. A., Schaal, A. M., Ayoub, J. C., & Turnure, J. T. (2014). Annual energy outlook 2014. US Energy Information Administration, 2.

Davis, C., Bollinger, L. A., & Dijkema, G. P. (2016). The state of the states: data-driven analysis of the US clean power plan. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 60, 631-652.

Hoggett, R. (2014). Technology scale and supply chains in a secure, affordable and low carbon energy transition. Applied Energy, 123, 296-306.

Keyes, A. T., Lambert, K. F., Burtraw, D., Buonocore, J. J., Levy, J. I., & Driscoll, C. T. (2019). The Affordable Clean Energy Rule and the Impact of Emissions Rebound on Carbon Dioxide and Criteria Air Pollutant Emissions. Environmental Research Letters.

Van de Graaf, T., & van Asselt, H. (2017). Introduction to the special issue: energy subsidies at the intersection of climate, energy, and trade governance.