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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is In The News. |
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Delegates from nearly 200 countries |
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have spent the past two weeks in Warsaw, Poland. |
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More than 9,000 representatives gathered |
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for a United Nations conference on climate change. |
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Organizers called the meeting to work toward a treaty |
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to fight rising temperatures on our planet. |
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The treaty would be signed in 2015 and take effect after 2020. |
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Several environmental groups |
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walked out of the climate talks earlier this week. |
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They were protesting what they considered a lack of progress |
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towards a deal to limit carbon dioxide |
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and other global warming emissions. |
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Studies have shown links between such gases and the rise in temperatures. |
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In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency |
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is leading government efforts to fight climate change. |
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The agency just ended a series of public hearings across the country. |
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The EPA was seeking comments as it considers |
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tightening clean air rules for coal-burning power plants. |
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America's 1,000 coal-burning power plants |
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supply 40 percent of the nation's electricity. |
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The plants are responsible for one-third of the global warming emissions. |
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The Obama Climate Action Plan has promised |
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to cut the production of such gases. |
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Mitch McConnell is the leader of the Republican Party |
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in the United States Senate. |
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He spoke at the EPA hearing in support of his home state of Kentucky, |
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which is a major coal producer. |
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"By now it is clear that this administration and your agency |
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have declared a war on coal. |
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For Kentucky, this means a war on jobs and on our state's economy." |
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Brian Patton also spoke at the EPA hearing. |
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Mr. Patton comes from a long line of Kentucky coal mine workers. |
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Today he is president of James River Coal Service. |
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His company has dismissed 725 workers over the past six months. |
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He fears that new rules could bring even greater hardship |
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to an area that is already economically depressed. |
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"Understand, these are communities of just 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 people. |
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And when you have that type of an economic impact |
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due to regulations that come from Washington, DC |
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-- that have very little understanding of what the outcome |
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is for the local folks, for folks that get up and go to work every day |
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and what that impact will be for their families |
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in the future, and that's wrong." |
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David Doniger is a climate policy expert |
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with the Natural Resources Defense Council, |
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one of the nation's largest environmental groups. |
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He says it is the duty of the EPA to control carbon as a pollutant. |
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He wants the agency to establish new rules |
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that would move the United States toward a cleaner energy environment. |
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"No one is proposing standards that would knock out all those power plants. |
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We're talking about a shift from the dirtier ones to the cleaner ones, |
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and from all those fossil fuel-powered ones towards renewable |
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and even nuclear sources of energy." |
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He says the government is responsible for protecting clean air, |
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not protecting old and dirty power stations. |
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"That's the only way that we can continue to have the way of life we want |
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without running into the wall on climate change impacts, |
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which in turn will come back and destroy the quality of life we have." |
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The EPA is now considering comments from the nationwide hearings. |
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The agency plans to announce proposed rule changes in June. |
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And that's In the News from VOA Learning English. |
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I'm Steve Ember. |
