But a careful look at Sanders’ actual proposals tells a different story. He proposes to retire the nation’s nuclear reactors, which are the nation’s largest source of zero-carbon energy and generate 20% of the nation’s electricity and 60% of its zero-carbon power. Doing so would result in power sector emissions rising over 20% by 2050.
Sanders has vowed if elected to rewrite the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan(which primarily restricts coal use) to make it tougher on natural gas. Doing so wouldgut the rule. Regulation of carbon emissions from the power sector under provisions of the Clean Air Act depends almost entirely on the Environmental Protection Agency’s determination that cheap natural gas generation is the “best available” alternative to coal power plants.