More than 400 people from the Midcontinent region and around the country took part in a recent workshop – Midcontinent States Regional Workshop: Implementation Options for EPA’s Clean Power Plan – hosted by the Great Plains Institute and the Bipartisan Policy Center, June 5, 2015, in Detroit, Michigan.
The workshop focused on implementation options for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Proposed Clean Power Plan. EPA is expected to release its final plan in August, including state emissions goals. States will then have to develop and submit plans to achieve those goals.
States and stakeholders in the region have been working to evaluate the policy options available to states for inclusion in state plans. The workshop provided states, stakeholders, and experts the chance to explore policy pathways for achieving EPA-prescribed state emissions goals, opportunities and challenges for multistate collaboration, and the range of opportunities for reducing power sector CO2 emissions in the region.
The agenda included a keynote address by Valerie Brader, executive director of the Michigan Agency for Energy. Brader spoke about Michigan’s efforts to plan their energy future and noted the three pillars used for planning and making decisions: reliability, affordability and protection of the environment.
In addition to Brader’s keynote address, three expert panels explored policy pathways for states to achieve state emissions goals, opportunities and challenges for multi-state collaboration and achieving state goals in the Midcontinent region.
Click here to view more detailed highlights from the workshop.
GPI and BPC will be hosting an additional workshop on the 111d rule this fall. Join our mailing list by clicking here to receive email updates on the next workshop and the rest of our work.
