President Barack Obama will impose steeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants, senior administration officials said. “Climate change is not a problem for another generation,” Mr. Obama said. “Not anymore.” Mr. Obama has mandated a 30 percent nationwide cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, when compared to 2005 levels. According to Obama administration officials, the final version, will follow extensive consultations with environmental groups and the energy industry, which will require a 32 percent cut.

"Power plants are the single biggest source of harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change," said Obama. "But until now, there have been no federal limits to the amount of that pollution that those plants can dump into the air." "For the sake of our kids, for the health and safety of all Americans, that's about to change."

Gina McCarthy, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, insisted that the rules were "reasonable" and "achievable". "They can cut carbon pollution in whatever way makes the most sense to them," she said. "No plant has to meet them alone or all at once, they have to meet them as part of the grid and over time." "I would never accept a scenario where affordability or reliability came into question," McCarthy said.

"These will burden Americans with increasingly high-costs of an essential service and a less reliable electric grid for delivering it," said Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association.

The proposal for 32-percent collective reduction has drawn fierce opposition from the Republican Party, which has described the measures as "overreach," "heavy-handed" and said they would have "devastating consequences for our economy."

In a video, Obama has said that the global warming and the reasons behind it were backed up by scientific data, but some Republican opponents disputed the existence of any global warming and others have cast their doubt on whether humans are to be blamed for the phenomenon.

Laying out the points on how climate change is a threat to the economy, health, wellbeing and security of America and added that time is of the essence, Obama said in a video.

Even when natural gas is gaining popularity, hundreds of coal-fired power plants are dotted across the country to provide about 37 percent of the US electricity supply, ahead of natural gas and nuclear energy.

By Premji