IA: Explaining Iowa's Credit for Early Action under the Clean Power Plan

The Energy Collective: Iowa’s target under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Clean Power Plan would reduce carbon pollution by 16% by 2030. Iowa would reduce emissions from existing power plants from 1,552 to 1,301 lbs/MWh (the amount of carbon emitted per each unit of power produced). If EPA had simply used Iowa’s actual 2012 renewable energy generation, without even considering any growth in renewable generation over the decade, the state’s goal would have been 1,168 lbs/MWh, a 25% reduction. Instead, the agency undervalued Iowa’s existing renewables, giving the state a less stringent target because of its progress in clean energy.

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