CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is co-leading a group of 25 AGs asking a federal appeals court to declare a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule on power plants illegal.
The coalition filed its petition May 9 with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit against the EPA and Administrator Michael Regan.
The rule would force existing power plants fueled by coal or natural gas to capture smokestack emissions or shut down. It would regulate those plants under the Clean Air Act by imposing more stringent emissions standards.
Morrisey
| Courtesy photo
The AGs say the rule ignores 2022’s rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA, which warned that EPA should not use a narrow regulatory provision to force coal-fired power plants into retirement en masse.
“The EPA continues to not fully understand the direction from the Supreme Court — unelected bureaucrats continue their pursuit to legislate rather than rely on elected members of Congress for guidance,” Morrisey said. “This green new deal agenda the Biden administration continues to force onto the people is setting up the plants to fail and therefore shutter, altering the nation’s already stretched grid.”
In the 279-page petition, the AGs say Congress has not given EPA clear statutory authorization to remake the electricity grids, meaning the agency cannot sidestep Congress to exercise regulatory power that would transform the nation’s energy grids and force states to shift their energy portfolios away from fossil fuel-fired generation.
“This rule strips the states of important discretion while using technologies that don’t work in the real world—this administration packaged this rule with several other rules aimed at destroying traditional energy providers,” Morrisey said. “We are confident we will once again prevail in court against this rogue agency.”
The AG’s office also said it soon will be filing a motion to stay the new rule.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming joined the West Virginia- and Indiana-led lawsuit.
