Commentary: Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club’s Chapter Director in New Mexico:
"The Trump executive order to dismantle climate policies is divorced from the reality that clean energy and energy efficiency have created thousands of jobs in New Mexico and are poised to take off here. The Clean Power Plan wouldn’t only boost job growth; it would keep our air and water safe and reduce our contribution to climate change.”
Trump’s EO fails to recognize states, like New Mexico, are already benefiting from investments in clean energy & carbon reductions:
- New Mexico is well on its way to meeting the CPP carbon reduction targets with its Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 20% by 2020.
- Clean energy and energy efficiency employs 9,441 people in New Mexico
- Increasing New Mexico’s RPS would provide certainty to the growing clean energy sector
Nationally, the Clean Power Plan would have created significant economic, environmental, and public health benefits:
- TheEPA estimated that, by 2030, the Clean Power Plan would have prevented 150,000 asthma attacks and up to 6,600 premature deaths annually.
- The EPA estimated the CPP would deliver annual climate and health benefits worth up to $93 billion by 2030.
- Independent studies estimated the CPP would increase U.S. employment by a quarter-million jobs
- EPA projects that by 2030, electricity bills would have been roughly 8 percent lower than they would be without the actions in state plans.