Environmental advocates in Arizona are concerned about the future of a key Obama administration climate change policy, the Clean Power Plan, which could change under a new administration.
Arizona is one of 25 states that sued the federal government over the plan, which requires states to reduce carbon emissions from power plants 30 percent by 2030. And while the plan is stalled in federal court, many expect President-elect Donald Trump will not try to keep it alive.
Ian Dowdy with the Sonoran Institute thinks that’s unfortunate, but it may not have a big impact here.
“We can implement the existing renewable energy in planning and already in the permitting process. Most of it has already been approved. We can implement that alone and meet most of our clean power targets," Dowdy said.
Recently, the chair of Arizona’s public utilities commission proposed raising the state’s renewable energy goals to 30 percent by 2030.
