U.S. issues timetable for carbon emissions cuts

WASHINGTON--U.S. environmental regulators released a plan on Thursday for the nation's power plants and refineries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, pressing ahead with the Obama administration's strategy of tackling the pollution in the absence of federal climate legislation.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would propose so-called performance standards on greenhouse gas emissions on both new and existing plants beginning in July for power plants and for oil refineries by December. The fossil fuel plants emit about 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gases.