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Doctors: Pence 'Irresponsible' For Opposing EPA Plan

Dave Emerson
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/daveemerson/

Indiana physicians and public health experts say Governor Mike Pence would be irresponsible if, as he’s pledged, he opposes the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.  The proposed regulations would call for a 20-percent reduction from Indiana’s 2005 carbon emission levels by 2030.

In a letter to President Obama, Governor Mike Pence vowed not to comply what he calls the “ill-conceived and poorly constructed” Clean Power Plan unless the EPA makes significant improvements.  But IU School of Medicine professor Steve Jay says it’s the Pence administration’s position that needs improvement.

“Their decisions have direct human consequences: suffering, disease, and death for kids and other vulnerable Hoosiers,” Jay says.

Pence says the EPA regulations will increase electricity prices, making it harder to advance the state’s manufacturing industry and taking more money out of Hoosiers’ pockets.  But Jay says the smart economic move would be embracing the Clean Power Plan.

“To reduce the pollution and thereby reduce the health impacts and the costs – enormous costs – associated with those,” Jay says.

The EPA is expected to release its finalized plan in August.  

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.
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