奥巴马宣布最严碳排放细则

Speaking on Monday the US president was blunt and to the point

"no challenge poses a greater threat to our future and future generations than a change in climate"

The tough new federal restrictions on Green House gas emissions from coal power plants in the US requires states to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent, over the next 15 years.

"The simpler layman's way of saying that it's like cutting every ounce of emission due to electricity from 108mln american homes or the equivalent of taking 166mln cars off the road"

Since last year The US has already made joint announcements alongside China and Brazil to slash carbon pollution, but Mr Obama's call for a shift to cleaner energy left some Republican lawmakers cold...

Earlier this year Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, representing coal-rich Kentucky, urged states not to comply with the plan in a letter to all 50 governors.

"Jobs and the economy are clearly what the voters are concerned about we need to do everything we can to rein in the regulatory onslaught which is the principal reason that we haven't had the kind of bounce back after the 2008 recession that you might expect"

A fellow republican hopeful for the White House in 2016, Rick Perry, told Fox News that the economy would suffer under the carbon cuts.

"The pres is going to destroy people in this country economically if he continues down this path of taking our american energy away from us"

Some republicans have already vowed to take legal and congressional action to stop the new regulations, over concerns it will be a job-killer and send electricity bills soaring.

The president however was in no doubt the deal was good for the economy, US security and the health of the American people.

"We only get one planet. there's no plan B I don't want my grand-kids not to be able to swim in Hawaii or not to be able to climb a mountain and see a glacier but we decided not to do something about it"

The next challenge for the Obama administration's environmental ambitions will come later this year at an international climate agreement in Paris.

For CRI, I'm Kevin McAleese in Washington