A study from Environment Georgia showed that Plant Scherer in Juliette was the single largest carbon polluter in the United States, releasing more than 21 million tons of pollution a year.
That's equivalent to around half the pollution from cars on all Georgia roads, and more carbon than the entire state of Maine emitted in a year.
Plant Scherer is a coal energy plant run by Georgia Power which employs around 400 people.
Coal plants are among the main focus of a new regulation proposal released by the Environmental Protection Agency Monday.
The EPA plans to reduce the amount of carbon pollution by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030.
Seth Gunning of the Sierra Club says within Georgia, Georgia Power would have "the lion's share" of helping meet the new targets because their plants cause the most pollution.
He believes the company should move toward alternative energy sources.
"The rest of the country has been seeing the writing on the wall and seeing these carbon standards coming for many years and transitioning their energy sources away from coal and on to clean energy like solar and wind," Gunning says.
Georgia Power spokesman John Kraft says while he supports current rules which comply with the Clear Air Act, the new rule goes above and beyond. He says while the company has invested in alternative energy projects, coal should still be an option.
" I do believe that we shouldn't push one fuel source out of the picture," Kraft says.
According to the EPA's proposal, states would have until 2017 to come up with plan to meet the requirement. Georgia's Environmental Protection Division says they're still reviewing the plan and would not comment.
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