Fifteen states call on Obama for flexible carbon rules

Fifteen states are calling on President Obama to recognize the steps they have taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions when the administration issues the new rules on power plants, Bloomberg reports.

{mosads}The officials want the Environmental Protection Agency to consider their efforts as it draws up the federal rules on pollution emissions, which are expected in June.

“Our states are already achieving significant carbon pollution reductions from the power sector, and are demonstrating a variety of ways in which such reductions can be achieved,” officials from the states said today in a letter to the EPA.

“We encourage EPA to develop a stringent but flexible framework that equitably achieves meaningful reductions in carbon.”

The 15 states cut emissions by 20 percent from 2005 to 2011.

States included in the petition are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, and Minnesota.