Environmental advocate: U.S. must lead world in cutting carbon

Coal-fired power plant in La Cygne, Kansas
Under the EPA's new rules, utilities will have to decide the best way to achieve reduced emissions, such as by retiring coal-fired power plants, like this one in La Cygne, Kan.
Charlie Riedel | AP file 2012

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to release a final rule today instructing power plants to reduce carbon emissions — and the reductions will be steeper than previously proposed.

The Obama Administration now wants carbon dioxide pollution cut by 32 percent by 2030. Each state will have a different percentage, and Minnesota's could be as high as 42 percent.

J. Drake Hamilton, from the Minnesota advocacy group Fresh Energy, will be at the White House today for the announcement.

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