A group of fifteen states urged a federal court on Thursday to stay the administration’s landmark emission rules for power plants, which are at the center of the president’s agenda to combat global warming.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued the rule, known as the Clean Power Plan, a little more than a week ago. It puts states on the hook to reduce emissions 32 percent by 2030, but the fifteen states argue EPA does not have the legal authority to proceed.
Critics of the rule say it will raise electricity prices and create an unstable electricity system, under which the threat of rolling power outages would become the norm.
The states, led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, argue that the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals should honor their request, given the unprecedented nature of the Clean Power Plan.
“This rule is the most far-reaching energy regulation in the nation’s history, and the EPA simply does not have the legal authority to carry it out,” said Morrisey.
“With this rule, the EPA is attempting to transform itself from an environmental regulator to a central planning agency for states’ energy economies,” he said. “The Clean Air Act was never intended to be used to create this type of regulatory regime, and it flies in the face of the powers granted to states under the U.S. Constitution.”
The states’ petition concedes that proper court procedure dictates that they wait for EPA to publish the regulations in the Federal Register before suing the agency, or petitioning the court for a stay. But they say the situation is unique in this case, and requires a different response from the court.
“EPA has made the unusual choice to make the states’ obligations effective immediately,” according to the petition. Therefore, “[r]egardless of the date of formal publication, the states already have firm deadlines to submit initial and final compliance plans under the rule,” the states argue. The EPA requires all states, except for Alaska and Hawaii, to submit plans on how they will comply by September of next year.
Morrisey further explained that,”[i]f we were to wait on the EPA to get this rule published, it could be well into 2016 before the states complete arguments and receive a ruling on a request to stay this rule.”
“By that time, many states will already be in the middle of drafting their compliance plans ahead of the September 2016 deadline,” he said. Morrisey wants to ensure “that no more taxpayer money or resources are wastefully spent” in attempting to comply with these “unlawful” regulations, which “we believe will ultimately be thrown out in court.”
Earlier in the month, the same group of states urged EPA directly to stay the regulations by Sept. 8, 2015.
EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen, in a statement to the Washington Examiner, refutes the states’ claims, saying “The Clean Power Plan is based on a sound legal and technical foundation, and it was shaped by extensive input from states, industry, energy regulators, health and environmental groups, and individual members of the public.”
Allen points out that just as many states are supporting the Clean Power Plan, including New York, California, and many others that issued a Thursday statement siding with the agency’s plan.
As that legal battle continues, President Obama on Thursday announced details of a trip he will take to Alaska at the end of the month to address the effects of climate change.
“When I am there, I will meet with Americans that are dealing with climate change every day and I’ll talk to other nations about how we can tackle this challenge together,” Obama said in a video the White House posted.
The president says increases in global temperatures due to man-made emissions are melting glaciers and endangering the livelihoods of many who live in Alaska. “It’s our wake up call,” the president said. “The alarm bells are ringing. And as long as I am president, America will lead the world to meet this threat before it’s too late.”
