“The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday released a draft rule to regulate carbon emissions from hundreds of fossil-fired power plants across the U.S., the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s climate-change agenda. The proposed rule mandates that power plants cut U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% by 2030 from levels seen in 2005, an aggressive target that marks the first attempt at limiting such pollution.

“That’s like canceling out annual carbon pollution from two thirds of all cars and trucks in America,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in speech at agency headquarters Monday announcing the rule. “And if you add up what we’ll avoid between now and 2030—it’s more than double the carbon pollution from every power plant in America in 2012.”

The carbon framework seeks to strike a balance between what environmentalists want—an ambitious overall target—with what the utility industry wants: flexibility, along with a long compliance timeline and an earlier base-year calculation from which to meet the goal.”* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.

*Read more here from Amy Harder / Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/epa-rule-to-cost-up-to-8-8-billion-annually-sources-say-1401710600