HARLAN, Iowa – As a major proposal to cut carbon pollution from the country’s aging power plants is considered in Washington D.C., people from all walks of life are calling for approval, including a mom and farmer from Iowa. Ellen Walsh-Rosmann and her family grow corn, beans and more on their spread in Harlan. She says the Clean Power Plan is needed to greatly reduce greenhouse gases and their impact on climate change. “We all have an obligation to protect the health of our families,” says Walsh-Rosmann. “Advocate for the use of more renewable energy and energy efficiency that will help our rural communities thrive.”

Critics of the proposal say it will do little to benefit the environment and will lead to higher electricity bills for consumers. The Environmental Protection Agency is taking public comment on the Clean Power Plan through Dec. 1.

Those groups backing the proposal include Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, the Center for Rural Affairs, Clean Up the River Environment, the Environmental Law and Policy Center and Clean Wisconsin. All are taking part in a regional week of action to build awareness, which includes a petition to the EPA. Walsh-Rosmann notes that with predictions of more weather extremes and big reductions in yields, cutting carbon emissions is that much more important for Iowa considering its agricultural base.

“I want clean air, water and the opportunities to continue farming with what we are given,” says Walsh-Rosmann. “I want my son to live in the same kind of world we are given and living in and his generation, and the next generations to come.”

(Iowa News Service)