Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s home state of Nevada has joined the ranks of states suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its far-reaching climate regulations, because of the harm the rules would pose to the state’s gambling and tourist trade.
Nevada’s Republican attorney general, Adam Paul Laxalt, said his state can manage compliance with the Clean Power Plan, but sees the plan eventually harming the broader economy.
“First, EPA’s unprecedented regulations harm energy consumers in other states, thus threatening harm to the overall national economy and in turn to Nevada’s vital tourism industry,” he wrote in a brief filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals late Tuesday night. The consumer advocacy group Consumers’ Research joined the attorney general in the brief.
Tuesday was the deadline for amicus filing on behalf of the states and dozens of others suing the EPA over the Clean Power Plan.
Nevada is the 30th state opposing the Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the president’s climate change agenda, in the appeals court.
The EPA plan requires states to cut greenhouse gas emissions a third by 2030. The states argue that the rules surpass the limits of the agency’s authority by placing the onus on states to reduce emissions, rather than individual power plants as the Clean Air Act dictates.
Clean energy proponents in the state came out in opposition against the attorney general’s decision on Wednesday.
“Attorney General Laxalt’s plan to oppose the Clean Power Plan is not in the state’s or its residents’ best interest, as it threatens job growth, hampers economic diversification, and works against Nevada’s efforts to be the nation’s clean energy leader,” said Jennifer Taylor, executive director of the Clean Energy Project advocacy group.
“Nearly 75 percent of Nevadans want to see our state act on climate through reducing carbon pollution, and more than 250 businesses have pledged their support for Nevada’s efforts to comply with the Clean Power Plan,” she said.
She added that Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval on Tuesday signaled a renewed commitment to the clean energy industry with a new executive order establishing a task force to advise the governor’s energy office on ways to promote the development of renewable energy and distributed energy resources in Nevada.
“We hope Attorney General Laxalt will follow the governor’s lead for the good of our state,” Taylor said.
