As a result of all of these factors there is a consistent and conflicting dilemma in EPA regulations and if there should be federal environmental regulations or state. The candidates of the 2016 presidential election all have strong stances on this issue, divided between Republicans and Democrats. Democratic candidates Clinton and Sanders favor federal environmental regulations and as such support the EPA. In addition, they both support the EPA's Clean Power Plan, a law recently passed that limits pollution from power plants, particularly coal-fired ones. In an article with the New York Times, Clinton was quoted saying, "The reality of climate change is unforgiving, no matter what the deniers say." Democratic candidates recognize the severity of the issue of climate change, which explains why they are so popular among young people.
In a speech to the League of Conservation voters, Clinton said that in addition to defending the Clean Power Plan, she expressed that an economic program must be put in place that would go along with combatting climate change. She recently proposed a $30 billion dollar plan to help displaced coal workers find new jobs and continue receiving health benefits. Her plan would be to provide economic incentives to coal country that would help that region transition to the production of renewable energy, thus mitigating job loss.
Republican candidates believe that restricting emissions contributes to job loss and strongly support cutting back EPA regulations and transferring the handling of energy issues to the states. Republican candidate Jeb Bush is strongly against EPA regulations. He believes that the Clean Power Plan was an overreach of federal authority that took away power from states and local communities, and that the plan should be repealed. In an August 2015 statement about the Clean Power Plan, he said, "The rule runs over state governments, will throw countless people out of work and will increase everyone's electricity prices...climate change will not be solved by grabbing power from states or slowly hollowing out our economy." Senator Chris Christie is on the same page as Jeb Bush. He believes that the EPA under the Obama administration oversteps their authority by imposing regulations that are too restrictive. He believes that laws such as the Clean Power Plan make it more difficult to do business in America.
A report released by the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, states that the EPA's Clean Power Plan will create 100,000 more jobs than will be lost. The report looked at both direct job creation, such as solar industry jobs, and indirect employment, such as waitressing jobs in a mining town or railroad jobs, places where miners spend their paychecks that will be the most affected by EPA regulation. The report noted that policies to address specific groups most impacted by the rule will be crucial, such as the Obama administrations efforts to mitigate losses to coal worker's pensions and health care coverage. An EPA reports estimates that the Clean Power Plan will have climate and health benefits worth $55 billion to $93 billion by 2030. The proposed Fiscal Year 2016 Budget provides more than $55 million in funding for job training, economic diversification and other economic efforts in places such as Appalachia that have experienced job loss due to the declining coal industry. Democratic candidate Hilary Clinton's economic plan also provides incentives to coal industry workers for job training to transition to a clean energy economy.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/11/12/clinton-to-help-coal-workers-move-to-green-jobs.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brighammccown/2015/10/29/energy-spotlight-where-do-the-candidates-stand/
http://www.lcv.org/assets/docs/presidential-candidates-on-cpp.pdf
https://berniesanders.com/issues/climate-change/
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/260507-senate-votes-to-strike-down-obamas-climate-rules
https://jeb2016.com/jeb-bush-statement-on-obamas-clean-power-plan/?lang=en
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/06/09/3667715/clean-power-plan-will-power-economy/