Environment

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In this Monday Aug. 29, 2011 photo, Teo Campbell stands on what used to be the bottom of the Bartonsville Covered Bridge over the Williams River in a field along the river in Rockingham, Vt. downstream from its original location after heavy rains from Hurricane Irene tore the bridge out. If you had to choose one symbol that sums up the state's essence, it might well be the covered bridge. Besides being tourist magnets, the bridges embody a reverence for history and the rural landscape, a prized sense of community. But the spans are vulnerable. Until Irene hit on Aug. 28, Vermont still had 101; the storm destroyed two and damaged 13 others. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

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Nina Brennan, right, and Phyllis Berry clean mud from in front of the Proud Flower store in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene on Monday, Aug. 29, 2011 in Waterbury, Vt. Almost 50,000 Vermont utility customers were without power Monday, hundreds of roads were closed and a number of bridges destroyed by the "epic" flooding caused by by the remnants of Hurricane Irene. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

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Janie Gibbs helps clean up a friend's destroyed home Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011 after it was hit by Hurricane Irene Saturday in Columbia, N.C. The storm killed at least 14 people and left 4 million homes and businesses without power. It unloaded more than a foot of water on North Carolina and spun off tornadoes in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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Shon Toussaint looks at his storm damaged car parked in the lot of the Hallande Beach, Fla. convience store where he works early Friday, Aug. 26, 2005. Hurricane Katrina flooded streets, darkened homes and felled trees as it plowed across South Florida before emerging over the Gulf of Mexico early Friday. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)

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Noe Morua pushes his bike past a flooded mobile home park in Homestead, Fla., Friday, Aug. 26, 2005. Hurricane Katrina flooded streets, darkened homes and felled trees as it plowed across South Florida before emerging over the Gulf of Mexico. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

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Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy prepares to sign a plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants. (Associated Press)

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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, criticized the EPA's new rules targeted at cutting carbon emissions, saying that the regulations could cause coal power plants in his state to shut down, which would result in job losses and would hurt consumers who are dependent on "affordable, abundant domestic energy." (Associated pRess Photographs)

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Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Democrat, promised to study the new environmental rules putting coal-fired power plants on the road to extinction and listen to stakeholders. (associated press)

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This July 29, 2013, file photo shows a Luminant Mining Co. coal mine working in Tatum, Texas. Texas has to cut its carbon emission by 39 percent by 2030 under new federal requirements. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday the state has at least three years to develop a plan to reach the reductions. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy gestures during an announcement of a plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, Monday, June 2, 2014, at EPA headquarters in Washington. In a sweeping initiative to curb pollutants blamed for global warming, the Obama administration unveiled a plan Monday that cuts carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by nearly a third over the next 15 years, but pushes the deadline for some states to comply until long after President Barack Obama leaves office. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)