Inquirer Editorial: Cleaner and cooler

The Obama administration's historic move to rein in carbon pollution from coal plants could help slow climate change, reduce respiratory illnesses, and foster cleaner energy and conservation. Alone, it's not enough to head off the harms of global warming, but it is an important and welcome step.

Wisely, the administration is leaving many of the details up to the states. They will have to design their own programs to reduce carbon pollution, giving them flexibility to meet regional needs. Their plans are due in 2016, which gives them plenty of time - especially considering that many states have already started efforts to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions rather than wait for the Environmental Protection Agency or Congress.

Building on the administration's requirements that new cars and trucks become more efficient, the EPA is focusing on some 600 coal-burning electricity plants. The goal is an overall 30 percent reduction in carbon emission rates by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.

The EPA has set specific goals for each state. New Jersey must reduce pollution from a 2012 rate of 932 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour to 531 pounds, or 43 percent. Pennsylvania has to cut the 2012 rate of 1,540 pounds to 1,052, or 32 percent.

New Jersey has already done much to lower emissions. It gets more than half its electricity from low-carbon nuclear energy and has worked to expand solar power.

An offshore wind farm near Atlantic City, however, remains stalled, having been rejected by the state Board of Public Utilities. But the U.S. Department of Energy recently gave it a $47 million grant, reflecting its enthusiasm for the pioneering project. Gov. Christie should seize on the new rules to redeem his poor environmental record and get those wind turbines turning.

Environmentalists correctly argue that New Jersey should be ambitious in reducing carbon pollution because it is so vulnerable to extreme weather events like Superstorm Sandy, which cost dozens of lives and billions of dollars in property damage. More than a year and a half later, the state has yet to fully recover.

Pennsylvania has work to do, too. Unfortunately, Gov. Corbett responded to the new rules by lip syncing coal interests' argument that Obama's plan will kill jobs - even though electricity generators have said the plan is workable.

Vulnerable dirty-fuel jobs are a legitimate worry for a coal state like Pennsylvania, but the commonwealth will be far better off if Corbett comes up with a smart plan to meet the federal goals. He should work with governors of other coal states and seek federal assistance with the necessary economic transition. He could position the state to reap benefits as an incubator of the new technology that will be required to develop alternative energy resources.

There will be a lot of scary predictions from big coal as the EPA finalizes the rule and no doubt defends it in court. There are already warnings of high electricity bills, though the EPA expects lower rates once the plan is implemented.

It's going to be very hard for coal interests to argue for the status quo of rising temperatures and sea levels, along with greater frequency and intensity of wildfires, floods, and storms.

The Obama administration has made the choice that stands to prevent the most damage to our health, safety, and economy.