OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is banding with attorneys general from several other states to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed new rule on existing coal-, natural gas- and oil-fired power plants.
The 21-state coalition opposes the proposed new rule because it attempts to regulate power plants by imposing more stringent emissions standards under the Clean Air Act, according to officials with Drummond’s office.
Those officials said the proposed rule ignores Virginia v. EPA, in which the U.S. Supreme Court stated that “Congress did not grant the Environmental Protection Agency in Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act the authority to devise emissions caps based on the generation shifting approach the agency took in the Clean Power Plan.”
The coalition argues that U.S. Supreme warned EPA officials against using a narrow regulatory provision to force coal-fired power plants into retirement en masse.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion that the Clean Air Act’s language “did not clearly authorize the EPA to engage in a ‘generation-shifting approach’ to the production of energy in this country.” The court stated that only Congress could take such action.
“In a flagrant dismissal of the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, the EPA is clearly stacking the deck here to force the closure of power plants,” Drummond said. “This rule, if allowed to stand, would cut jobs and raise energy costs for American families and businesses. The never-ending federal overreach of the Biden administration knows no bounds, particularly when it comes to America’s energy production.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led the letter, stating in it that the proposal violates the Supreme Court ruling because Congress has not given the EPA statutory authority to remake the electricity grids. The coalition argues the EPA is attempting to sidestep Congress and transform the nation’s energy grids, forcing states to shift their energy portfolios away from fossil fuel-fired generation.
“The EPA’s anti-oil and gas agenda is a clear and present danger to the American economy,” Drummond said. “As Attorney General, the people of Oklahoma can count on me to fight against EPA’s radical climate agenda and protect our oil and gas industry.”
There are 224 coal-fired power plants across the United States.
A new bill was filed in Congress this summer to stop the closing of coal-fired power plants throughout the nation.
The coalition’s letter to the EPA is included in full below.
