A Cleaner, More Efficient Power Sector In Florida
We have a moral obligation to leave our children a planet that’s not polluted or damaged. By taking action nowto combat climate change, including developing homegrown clean energy and cutting energy waste, we canhelp protect our kids’ health, cut carbon pollution, and begin to slow the effects of climate change so we leave acleaner, safer environment for future generations.
We are already feeling the dangerous and costly effects of a changing climate across the nation. In the past threedecades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is puttingthose Americans at greater risk of landing in the hospital. And extreme weather events – from more severedroughts and wildfires in the west to more powerful hurricanes and record heat waves – are affectingcommunities across the country. Now is the time to act. We have already made progress by moving tocleaner sources of energy and improving the energy efficiency of our cars, trucks, and buildings.
The Clean Power Plan, a key part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, cuts harmful carbon pollution fromthe power sector that’s fueling climate change. By setting the first-ever national standards to limit carbonpollution from power plants, the largest single source of U.S. carbon pollution, it will improve the health ofAmericans across the country, create clean energy jobs, and help households and businesses save on their energybills. The final plan takes into account the more than 4 million comments received from states and stakeholdersacross the country, creating strong but achievable standards for power plants that provide flexibility andchoices for states and utilities on how to achieve their clean energy future.
The Clean Power Plan Will Improve the Health of Florida Residents
We know climate change will put vulnerable populations at greater risk – including the elderly, our kids, andpeople already suffering from burdensome allergies, asthma, and other illnesses. According to the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention, 8.3 percent of Florida’s adult population suffers from asthma. The sooner weact, by taking responsible steps to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants, the more we can do to preventimpacts that affect all Americans – especially the most vulnerable.
In 2013, 108 million metric tons of carbon pollution were emitted from power plants in Florida — equal to theyearly pollution from almost 23 million cars. In addition to reducing a portion of this carbon pollution, EPA’sguidelines will also cut other forms of air pollution like soot and smog. Overall, these reductions will providesignificant health benefits.
Since the Clean Air Act was implemented more than 40 years ago, the EPA has continued to protect the healthof communities, in particular those vulnerable to the impacts of harmful pollution, while growing theeconomy. In fact, since 1970, air pollution has decreased by nearly 70 percent while the economy has tripled insize. The Clean Power Plan builds on this progress, while providing states the flexibility to have clean, reliable,and affordable electricity.
Reducing Carbon Pollution Lowers Risks and Costs for Florida
Florida is part of the U.S. National Climate Assessment’s Southeast and Caribbean Region. The findings in theNational Climate Assessment underscore the need for urgent action to combat the threats from climate change,protect American citizens and communities today, and build a sustainable future for our kids and grandkids.According to the third U.S. National Climate Assessment Highlights report, regional and state- specific impactsinclude:
· Sea Level Rise: Sea level rise presents major challenges to South Florida’s existing coastal watermanagement system due to a combination of increasingly urbanized areas, aging flood control facilities, flattopography, and porous limestone aquifers. The Gulf and Atlantic coasts are major producers of seafoodand home to seven major ports that are also vulnerable. For instance, South Florida’s freshwater well fieldprotection areas lie close to the current interface between saltwater and freshwater, which will shift inlandwith rising sea level, affecting water managers’ ability to draw drinking water from current resources. TheApalachicola-Chattahoochee-
· Health: Temperatures across the region are expected to increase in the future. Major consequencesinclude significant increases in the number of hot days (95°F or above) and decreases in freezing events.Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, and Tampa have already had increases in the number of days withtemperatures exceeding 95ºF, during which the number of deaths is above average. Higher temperatures alsocontribute to the formation of harmful air pollutants and allergens. Ground-level ozone is projected toincrease in the 19 largest urban areas of the Southeast, leading to an increase in deaths. Highertemperatures contribute to the formation of harmful air pollutants and allergens. Higher temperatures arealso projected to reduce livestock and crop productivity. Climate change is expected to increase harmfulblooms of algae and several disease-causing agents in inland and coastal waters. The number of Category 4and 5 hurricanes in the North Atlantic and the amount of rain falling in very heavy precipitation eventshave increased over recent decades, and further increases are projected.
· Ecosystems: Coral reefs in the Southeast and Caribbean, as well as worldwide, are susceptible toclimate change, especially warming waters and ocean acidification, whose impacts are exacerbated whencoupled with other stressors, including disease, runoff, over-exploitation, and invasive species.
Florida is Already Reducing Carbon Pollution and has Many Toolsto Meet its Clean Power Plan Goals
Florida has already reduced its power sector carbon pollution by 10 percent since 2008. Mayors in over 75 cities in Florida
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