Announced as “breaking” news late last week, a group of 15 state attorneys general, including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey, took aim at the EPA’s Clean (Costly)Power Plan on Thursday, urging the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to issue an emergency stay of the controversial proposal’s deadlines while its legality is reviewed by the courts.
The attorneys general argued that EPA lacks the legal authority to carry out the plan and said that a stay is appropriate so that States do not have to use taxpayer resources to comply with the rule before its formal publication.
West Virginia’s AG Morrisey and Assistant AG Elbert Lin are taking the lead in this Emergency Petition for an Extraordinary Writ which can be viewed by clicking here. This came on the heels of earlier actions in which West Virginia joined with 16 other states to challenge the EPA rule requiring States to revise their “state implementation plans” (SIP) for regulating CO2 emissions during startup, shutdown or malfunctions at power plants.
West Virginia and Florida are joined in the suit by Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota, all claiming the rule exceeds the agency’s authority. Each of the states is represented by their respective attorneys general offices.
The case is the State of Florida et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al., and is in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Petition for Review is available by clicking this case number 15-1267.