Energy

Republican State AGs Take Biden Admin To Court Over Costly Green Power Plant Scheme

A coalition of more than two dozen Republican state attorneys general are challenging one of the Biden administration’s signature environmental regulations.

Twenty-five attorneys general sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday over the agency’s stringent, recently-finalized regulations targeting new natural gas- and coal-fired power plants. The regulations require many existing coal plants and new natural gas facilities to control 90% of their emissions by 2032 if they want to stay open in the longer term, a mandate that will effectively require plant operators to spend billions of dollars on expensive carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) equipment or close down.

“Petitioners will show that the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and otherwise is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law,” the attorneys general wrote in their filing. “Petitioners thus ask that this Court declare unlawful and vacate Respondents’ final action.”

EPA Lawsuit by Nick Pope on Scribd

The EPA’s power plant rule stands as one of the Biden administration’s most aggressive and ambitious climate policies to date. The agency has asserted that the rules will not impact energy reliability, but grid experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation they are anticipating the exact opposite to be the case.

The suit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. West Virginia, Indiana, 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 are the states suing the EPA.

The legal challenge filed Thursday could potentially lead to another high-profile Supreme Court ruling pertaining to the EPA’s authority to issue such major regulation under the auspices of the Clean Air Act. In its 2022 decision in West Virginia v. EPA, the highest court in the land struck down the Obama EPA’s “Clean Power Plan” and ruled that the agency had exceeded its mandate; some critics of the Biden EPA’s plan have characterized it as an end run around that ruling.

“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,” West Virginia Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrissey said in a statement. “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. We are confident we will once again prevail in court against this rogue agency.”

The EPA declined to comment about the lawsuit, citing its active nature. However, the agency believes that the regulations are on firm legal ground, an EPA spokesperson previously told the DCNF.