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After signing the order, Obama will visit the Department of
Energy to tour the building's rooftop solar panels. While there,
he will attend a meeting of some of the federal suppliers, which
will discuss their reduction targets, including initial
commitments to disclose emission targets or set new reduction
goals, the statement said, without providing details.
Obama has made fighting climate change a top priority in his
final two years in office. The White House sees it as critical
to his legacy.
The Environmental Protection Agency last year proposed a Clean
Power Plan that set deadlines for states to submit proposals to
meet power plant carbon emission reduction goals.
A dozen states, including Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana and
Wyoming, sued the EPA last August soon after the plan was
unveiled on grounds that its use of a certain section of the
Clean Air Act was illegal. The federal D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals will hear the case on April 16.
Obama's budget proposal for fiscal 2015 released last month
called for a 7 percent boost in funding for clean energy and a
$4 billion fund to encourage U.S. states to make faster and
deeper cuts to emissions from power plants. It also called for
the permanent extension of tax credits used by the wind and
solar power industries.
(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Additional reporting by Valerie
Volcovici; Editing by Peter Cooney; Writing by Eric Walsh)
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