by Ben Wolfgang
Washington Times

The Obama administration’s controversial climate change agenda is being driven largely by outside forces in the environmental community, and powerful activist groups have played a major — and perhaps illegal — role in crafting key Environmental Protection Agency policies, a detailed report released Thursday charges.

Emails obtained by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (EELI), an environmental policy watchdog and frequent critic of the EPA, show that powerful environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others engaged in secret discussions with top administration officials. Much of the EPA’s climate agenda, including its looming regulations limiting carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, is being crafted by those outside groups, the report says…

The bombshell report comes just days before the EPA is set to release its new carbon emissions restrictions, known as the Clean Power Plan. The regulations, designed explicitly to reduce carbon emissions and reduce coal’s share of U.S. power generation, could be unveiled as soon as Monday. The plan forms the centerpiece of Mr. Obama’s broader climate agenda and his pledge to the international community that the U.S. will cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025.

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