CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is leading a 10-state coalition in urging President Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
The state attorneys general argue the Paris agreement, while not legally binding, runs the risk of undermining Trump’s fight against overregulation and opening the door to potential enforcement, both of which would negatively impact each state and the nation as a whole for as long as the United States remains signed onto the agreement.
“Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement is an important and necessary step toward reversing the harmful energy policies and unlawful overreach of the Obama era,” Morrisey wrote in a multistate letter to the White House.
The Paris agreement, adopted in December 2015, stands as a symbol of the Obama-era, “Washington knows best” approach to governing, the letter states.
The states argue the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan was the linchpin of the United States’ involvement in the Paris agreement, and as such Trump’s decision to dismantle the Power Plan supports the need to withdraw.
Morrisey has been a vocal opponent of what his office calls federal overreach and job-killing regulations. This includes winning a stay of the Power Plan at the U.S. Supreme Court and securing a nationwide stay blocking enforcement of the Waters of the United States rule.
West Virginia signed the letter with attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin.