CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is strongly criticizing President Joe Biden’s call to cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030.
Biden's proposal, which was announced April 22 at the virtual Climate Leaders Summit on Earth Day, would cut emissions in half as compared to 2005 – significantly more than President Obama ever proposed.
“President Biden’s promise that America will undertake radical, transformational and too-rapid reductions in carbon emissions by the end of this decade is a domestic and foreign policy blunder of almost unfathomable proportions," Morrisey said. "Meeting Biden’s commitment would cause energy costs and the prices of American-made goods to skyrocket. It would necessarily take over nearly every aspect of American life — requiring drastic changes for homes, businesses and factories — while crippling our country’s ability to compete on the world stage.
"President Biden’s agenda would also force Americans to bear the greatest burden of reducing carbon emissions, and thus eviscerate good-paying union and working class jobs in the long run, not create new ones as Biden claims. This proposal would also enhance China’s strategic position at our people’s expense, as China is not proposing anything approaching this degree of economy-transforming change."
Morrisey noted that Biden's proposal didn't include any discussion of the legal basis for his mandate.
"The proposal goes even further than anything President Obama contemplated — and our office repeatedly challenged his aggressive steps as illegal executive and agency overreach," Morrisey said. "We will carefully monitor the Biden Administration as it takes steps to fulfill this new mandate and stand ready to defend West Virginia’s and America’s interests and the rule of law.
“As the chief legal officer of West Virginia, I am deeply concerned about the enormity of this mistake and its legal defects, which is why I will present a detailed response tomorrow at noon.”
Morrisey challenged the Obama power plan from the beginning and helped to block its enforcement with a U.S. Supreme Court victory.
