The Environmental Protection Agency is releasing rules next week that will establish the first-ever carbon emissions standards for power plants. This is good news for entrepreneurs — the majority of whom support the EPA limiting carbon pollution.

But what do these EPA standards have to do with small businesses? Small employers realize carbon pollution is linked to climate change and extreme weather. And more and more, extreme weather has been hitting small employers where it hurts the most.

Small Business Majority polled a random sample of small businesses and found climate change and extreme weather events are causing real financial hardships for small employers — so much so that the majority of entrepreneurs affected by an extreme weather event said they’ve experienced a significant financial impact to their companies and some have even had to lay off employees.

Mary Timmel is the Midwest outreach manager of  the Small Business Majority, St. Louis, Missouri.

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