CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading an eight-state coalition in establishing a list of federal regulations that should be repealed, replaced or modified.
The letter follows a request for public comment from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as to what regulations should be considered appropriate for change.
“During the Obama Administration, we experienced first-hand the devastating effects of unlawful executive overreach on jobs and our States’ local energy economies,” Morrisey wrote. “We welcome the opportunity to participate in the process of scaling back these unlawful regulations, restoring the rule of law, and ultimately, returning key decisions about energy production and priorities to the States and their citizens.”
The letter highlights the EPA’s need to review a number of Obama-era regulations, streamline the process for allowing states to administer their own water permitting programs and revise regulations to improve the way individual states implement federal rules.
Some specific regulations recommended for repeal, replacement or modification include:
• The EPA's Clean Power Plan
• The Waters of the United States rule
• Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
• Oil and Gas Methane New Source Performance Standards
• The Greenhouse Gas Reporting rule
West Virginia signed the letter with attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Morrisey has been one of the EPA's most vocal critic in recent years, having led the a coalition of states that secured a stay of the Clean Power Plan at the U.S. Supreme Court and securing a nationwide stay blocking enforcement of the Waters of the United States rule.