Contact: Eben BurnhamSnyder, Senator Ed Markey, 2022242742

Giselle Barry, Senator Ed Markey, 2022242742

WASHINGTON (September 20, 2013) - Senator Edward J. Markey (DMass.), who coauthored the only comprehensive bill to put carbon limits on power plants to pass a chamber of Congress, today praised the Obama administration for their new rules on future power plants that will limit the pollution that is driving climate change. The new rules, announced today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will set new, separate limits on the amount of pollution that natural gas and coal plants can emit.

Below is the statement of Senator Markey:

"The era of boundlessly polluting our skies with climatealtering pollution is nearing its end. For decades, we've known that setting limits on smog, on mercury, on other dangerous emissions saves lives and preserves our planet. Today, the Obama administration is proposing to put limits on carbon pollution needed to stop climate changes that are endangering our people and our planet.

"These rules are reasonable. They are feasible. And they should soon be expanded to include standards for existing power plants.

"For power producers and coal mining companies that reject these standards, they have no reason to complain, and every excuse to innovate. Because when Congress offered a solution to pass a climate and energy bill that would provide billions of dollars to help power companies develop advanced carboncutting technologies, they instead chose to hire lobbyists and kill the bill.

"Next week, the world's most comprehensive climate science report is set to be released. We know climate change is an existential threat that is changing our world for the worse. These standards respond to the moral duty we have to address climate change and provide the clear economic incentives for power producers to clean up their act."