WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is leaning toward revising its landmark proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants, according to several individuals briefed on the matter, a move that would delay tougher restrictions and anger many environmentalists.
The discussions center on the first-ever greenhouse gas limits for power plants, which were proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency nearly a year ago. Rewriting the proposal would significantly postpone any action and also might allow the agency to set more permissive standards for coal-fired power plants, which are roughly twice as polluting as those fueled by natural gas.
Any retreat on the rules would be a blow to environmental groups and their supporters, who constituted a crucial voting bloc for President Obama and other Democrats in last year’s elections.
The move coincides with Obama’s call on Friday for a new federal fund to research clean energy alternatives for cars and trucks.
Romney vows to help strengthen GOP
Republican Mitt Romney told conservative activists Friday that he’s sorry he’s not their president but promised to work alongside them to help strengthen the Republican Party.
“Each of us in our own way will have to step up and meet our responsibility,” Romney told a crowded ballroom at the Conservative Political Action Conference, a three-day political summit in suburban Washington.
“I am sorry that I will not be your president,” the 2012 Republican presidential nominee said during his first public speech since last fall’s election loss. “But I will be your co-worker, and I will work shoulder-to-shoulder alongside you.”
Man rapes girl, fatally stabs mother
A man previously charged with having child pornography cut an electronic monitoring device off his ankle before carjacking a woman, fatally stabbing her and raping her 10-year-old daughter, authorities said.
David J. Renz abducted a school librarian and her daughter as they left a gymnastics class at a mall in the Syracuse, N.Y., suburb of Clay, about 150 miles west of Albany, on Thursday night, state police said Friday.
The motorist told 911 dispatchers he saw a man running away from the scene, allowing police to quickly send in officers on the ground and a sheriff’s helicopter in the air. Renz was caught a short time later near a wooded area.
Wildfire threatens 50 Colorado homes
An 800-acre wildfire driven by erratic winds was threatening more than 50 homes in northern Colorado on Friday and had prompted hundreds of evacuation orders.
Firefighters saved two homes and a state park visitors center from flames, authorities said. They said no homes had been destroyed.
Lawyer says editor’s actions ‘Internet prank’
A lawyer for a Reuters editor accused of conspiring with hackers to deface a Los Angeles Times story says the journalist didn’t commit the crimes he’s accused of. But even assuming that he did, attorney Jay Leiderman said Friday that it was an Internet prank, and that shouldn’t land anyone in prison for 25 years.
Federal authorities allege Matthew Keys provided the hacking group Anonymous with login information to access the Tribune Co.’s computer system. Tribune is the Times’ parent company.
According to an indictment handed down Thursday, the hacker altered a Times news story posted in December 2010 to reference another hacking group.
