Associated Press

It could be hard to quantify the effects of power shutdowns on air quality because of the many factors to consider, including how to weigh the pollution they cause against the pollution avoided by preventing wildfires, said Joe Goffman, a former assistant administrator with EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation during the Obama administration.

“Essentially, this is the umpteenth iteration of the EPA’s exercise to define away its Clean Air Act authority … to address air pollution and greenhouse gases,” said Joseph Goffman, an EPA air official under Obama.

“I can’t think of a single rule that would do more to set back the effort to do what we need to do to address the critical threat of climate change,” said Joe Goffman, who helped draft the repealed Clean Power Plan.

Joe Goffman, a former EPA official who helped create the clean power plan and now at Harvard Law School, said the omission of international impacts “doesn’t track with reality” given that climate change is a worldwide problem.