Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper: I won't issue clean-air executive order

DENVER (AP) — Colorado's Democratic governor says he has abandoned the idea of issuing an executive order to seek a one-third cut in greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

Gov. John Hickenlooper said Tuesday the proposed order, reported by The Associated Press in August, had generated too much political backlash from Colorado Republicans.

But he insisted he hadn't abandoned the proposal's — or his own commitment to maintaining Colorado's status as a national leader in fighting air pollution.

The draft executive order would have directed state agencies to work on ways to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power generators by 35 percent by 2030, compared with 2012 levels.