President Obama promoted his administration’s new carbon pollution standards for existing power plants on a call with health groups Monday afternoon.
“Climate change is real, and it has serious impacts as we speak,” Obama said on the brief phone call, hosted by the American Lung Association.
{mosads}Obama touted the flexibility of the rules, a central part of controversy surrounding the proposal as Republicans claim states will be left out to dry trying to reach unattainable reduction goals.
“It provides states a wide range of options of achieving their goals but makes sure that we are reducing carbon pollution that hurts the health of our kids, and the health of our planet,” Obama said.
Obama warned health groups that they will inevitably hear from those who say the rush will kill the economy and jobs.
“I promise you will hear from critics,” Obama said, adding that those claims are “debunked” when workers and businesses innovate with federal incentive.
“When Americans are called on to innovate, thats what they do,” Obama said.
Obama stressed that despite the scrutiny, the United States doesn’t have a choice of inaction.
“There’s going to be a lot of efforts to put out misinformation and to try to make sure that spin overwhelms substance, and that PR overwhelms science, but I wanted to call you directly so you guys hear from me directly this is something that is important for all of us,” he said.
Obama added that climate policies are crucial to ensure that “future generations are able to enjoy this beautiful blue ball in the middle of space that we’re a part of.”