EPA hearings on emissions reduction plans start in U.S

Public hearings started on Tuesday to assess proposals from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cut carbon emissions from the country's power plants.

The EPA is holding two-day hearings in Atlanta, Denver, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. and a pool of around 1,600 people will be able to comment on the plans.

More than 300,000 written comments have already been submitted on the agencies Clean Power Plan.

The plan was unveiled in June and is the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's climate change strategy.

Democrat and U.S. Senator Edward Markey spoke at the hearing in support for the EPA’s plans and was critical of groups that have not been supportive.

State utility regulators in Atlanta warned they would be forced to close power plants only recently renovated to comply with previous regulations.

The hearings in Denver are the only ones being held in the West, where the topic of climate change air pollution traditionally sets off a loud debate. Three of the top 10 coal-producing states are in the West — Wyoming, Montana and Colorado.

Four power plants on tribal land in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah will be dealt with under a separate proposal yet to be announced.

Even without the new rules, coal power plants face increasing pressure from regulators to reduce other forms of pollution.

On Monday federal officials said that Arizona’s Navajo Generating Station will produce one-third less energy by 2020 and could close by 2044 under a rule aimed at reducing haze-causing nitrogen oxide pollution.

EPA technical experts will listen to the comments, and a transcript will go into the EPA record, according to spokesperson Lisa McClain-Vanderpool.

The EPA plans to release the final rules next year.