President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan will stop 3,300 heart attacks and 150,000 asthma attacks, according to a report released by the White House Wednesday.
The plan, which includes new efficiency standards and renewable energy projects, will reportedly prevent 6,600 deaths — when “fully implemented.”
“Since the Climate Action Plan’s release, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants that put our nation on track to cut carbon pollution from the power sector by 30 percent and reduce pollutants that contribute to the soot and smog that make people sick by over 25 percent in 2030,” the report explains.
The plan also outlined the administration’s commitment to making military bases and federally-assisted housing more dependent on solar energy and funding environmentally-friendly buses for public transit throughout the country.
Between the Iraq crisis, Obamacare debacles and stalled immigration bill, Obama is relying on ambitious climate change policies to secure his legacy.
The UN’s big climate change conference is coming up in 2015, and Obama is determined to take center stage: “We have proven that the U.S. can and will take the lead on climate action,” says the report, a theme echoed in many of Obama’s recent speeches. Speaking at the U.S. Military Academy’s commencement ceremony in May, he vowed “to make sure America is out front in putting together a global framework to preserve our planet.” (RELATED: Feds Spent $700,000 On A Climate Change Musical)