Good morning and welcome to our live blog coverage as President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveil a bold new effort to confront climate change.  According to advance reports, the president will announce new regulations requiring existing power plants to, by the year 2030, produce 30% less carbon pollution than they were in 2005. Power plants are the largest single source of carbon pollution, accounting for nearly 40% of the emissions that cause climate change.  Today’s move represents the first attempt by any president to regulate carbon pollution from power plants.  Guardian US environment correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg (@suzyji) has written a preview of today’s announcement. “The regulations could lead to a sweeping transformation of America's energy economy, if they survive an onslaught from business and conservative groups, and Republicans in Congress,” she writes:  The rules could also break open negotiations for a global climate change deal, the United Nations climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said. [...]  The rules could affect some 1,600 power plants. About 600 of these operate on coal, including many that are nearly 50 years old and will have the most difficulty meeting the new standards.  Under the rule, states and power companies will have a range of options to meet the new standards: switching from coal to cleaner-burning natural gas; forming cap-and-trade markets; expanding renewables such as wind and solar power; or encouraging customers to use less energy by moving to more efficient heating and cooling systems and appliances.  That's a departure for the EPA, which generally has focused on curbing emissions from specific smoke stacks.  We will be live blogging the EPA announcement, which will be followed by a statement from the president. We’ll also be gathering reaction from environmental groups and from opponents of the new regulations, who say they will be ineffective and too costly. And we’ll take a closer look at the energy and pollution picture at the state and company level. We hope you’ll join us.
Follow live coverage as the US unveils bold new regulations to cut carbon pollution by 30% in an effort to combat climate change