The Obama administration will on Monday roll out a plan to cut earth-warming pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, setting in motion one of the most significant actions to address global warming in US history.

A new rule, which is expected to be final next year, will set the first national limits on carbon dioxide, the chief gas linked to global warming from US power plants.



Despite concluding in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, a finding that triggered their regulation under the 1970 Clean Air Act, it has taken years for the administration to take on America's fleet of power plants.

Political and legal risks

Power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the US, accounting for about a third of the annual emissions making the US the second largest contributor to global warming on the planet.



The rule carries significant political and legal risks, by further diminishing coal's role in producing US electricity and offering options for pollution reductions far afield from the power plant, such as increased efficiency.

Once the dominant source of energy in the US, coal now supplies under 40 percent of the country's electricity, as it has been replaced by booming supplies of natural gas and renewable sources such as wind and solar.

Source: AP