The states argued that rather than waiting until the government publishes the final rule in the Federal Register, which is typically required before courts consider lawsuits and requests for stays, the court should consider the request on an expedited basis.
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EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said Thursday the carbon rules, known formally as the Clean Power Plan, is “based on a sound legal and technical foundation”. Attorneys general for 15 other states, as well as New York City and the District of Columbia issued a statement saying it supported the EPA rules.
WASHINGTON-Fifteen states asked a federal court Thursday to temporarily block Obama administration carbon regulations while they mount a full legal challenge to the rules. The Supreme Court has already found that EPA has authority to curb power plants carbon pollution under the very part of the Clean Air Act that the agency used.
Environmental groups, though, already know enough to say they are pleased with a plan they say gives Utah a chance to move away from coal and other traditional power sources and toward cleaner energy.
Alan Matheson, executive director of Utah Department of Environmental Quality, said in a statement that the plan has the potential to impact not only the state’s energy industry, but the economy. And the states would have just one year to come up with a preliminary plan and then a final plan by September of 2018. Ohio will ask for that extension, he said. Solar and wind power become more cost-effective every day and continue to grow exponentially while benefiting this state.
The Clean Power Plan is a historic step to rein in power plant pollution that will speed America’s transition to cleaner energy, protect our health and help to safeguard future generations from the worst effects of climate change, and position the United States for global leadership on climate change. The summit offers a unique networking platform for state regulators, policymakers and utilities to examine the final rule in its entirety, as well as how its effects will be felt both on state and national levels. “But before everyone sits down, we should read the plan”.
When they do, the AGs will confront a Clean Power Plan that rests on solid legal ground.
In addition to Ohio and West Virginia, other states joining to fight are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The attorneys general have already made their argument in a suit filed in the same court months before the EPA released the Clean Power Plan.
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Before the new rules were announced, Murray Energy Corp., the biggest privately owned operator of underground mines, filed a lawsuit that was deemed premature by a court in Washington. The lawsuit argues that absent a stay, states will be “irreparably harmed” because they must spend resources and begin reordering their energy sector.
