Boise, ID – Attorney General Raúl Labrador has joined a West Virginia-led coalition of 21 states opposing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed new rule on existing coal, natural gas, and oil-fired power plants.
The proposal attempts to regulate those plants under the Clean Air Act by imposing more stringent emissions standards. It ignores last year’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 Biden administration continues to bypass the legislative process and undermine the separation of powers. Time and time again, this administration has been reprimanded by the Supreme Court. Nevertheless, the federal government persists in its efforts to reshape the nation through executive fiat,” Attorney General Labrador said.
The letter explains how the proposal violates the Supreme Court’s decision on West Virginia v. EPA because Congress hasn’t given EPA clear statutory authorization to remake the electricity grids. That means the agency cannot sidestep Congress to exercise broad regulatory power that would radically transform the nation’s energy grids—and force states to fundamentally shift their energy portfolios away from fossil fuel-fired generation.
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia joined the West Virginia-led letter.
Read a copy of the letter here.