I commend President Barack Obama for outlining his plans to fulfill the moral obligation we all have to "respond to the growing threat of climate change for the sake of our children and future generations."
The president was clear in directing the Environmental Protection Agency to close the loophole that allows coal-burning power plants to put limitless amounts of carbon pollution in our atmosphere for free. He has directed the EPA to set carbon limits on new and existing power plants, which are the largest unlimited source of U.S. carbon pollution and key to responsibly addressing our energy future.
To understand the severity of climate change and extreme weather, just look at Hurricane Sandy and the 24 other extreme weather events from 2011-12 that caused damage in excess of $1 billion each — $188 billion in total — and claimed more than 1,100 lives.
President Obama understands the impact of climate change and the urgent need to take action to cut carbon pollution from power plants so that we can reduce the number of future extreme weather events, protect public health and fulfill our moral obligation to future generations.
O. William Bruins
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Rochester
