To the editor:

Kansas Interfaith Power & Light and member congregations across Kansas stand in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal for carbon pollution safeguards on new power plants.

We have a moral obligation to do everything we can to protect the health of all people, preserve Creation, and leave a safe climate for future generations. The new EPA rules are an important first step in cutting carbon pollution and improving air quality nationwide. We aim to fulfill the call from God to be stewards of Creation, and will be championing the EPA’s action in houses of worship across the state.

Power plants emit 40 percent of carbon pollution in the country, posing a major threat to Creation and the welfare of humankind. Yet there are currently no limits on carbon pollution from power plants. Just as the EPA has enforced safeguards to protect our health from arsenic, mercury and lead, the EPA can and must protect our health and take action on dangerous carbon pollution.

A strong standard for carbon pollution from new power plants, coupled with an upcoming standard for existing power plants, represent a historic effort to address the nation’s largest cause of global climate changing pollution, and we applaud the EPA for their work.