25 AGs Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Stay New EPA Power Plant Rule, By Jim Willis
Using 1,020 pages of new regulations, which will go into effect this year, all coal-fired plants are slated to remain operational in the long term and all new gas-fired power plants will be required
25 AGs Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Stay New EPA Power Plant Rule
ELECTRICAL GENERATION | INDUSTRYWIDE ISSUES | LITIGATION | STATEWIDE WV | WEST VIRGINIA
July 26, 2024
The Bidenistas at the EPA attacked coal and gas-fired power plants in April, threatening to destabilize the existing electric power grid with new regulations (see EPA Rolls Out Final Regs Attacking Coal & Gas-Fired Power). Using 1,020 pages of new regulations, which will go into effect this year, all coal-fired plants that are slated to remain operational in the long term and all new gas-fired power plants will be required to control (capture) 90% of their carbon emissions using expensive and unproven technology. Translation: New gas-fired plants won’t get built, and most, if not all, coal plants will shutter, with the result that electricity will, by necessity, be rationed (see WSJ Calls Biden EPA Power Plant Regs a Plan to “Ration Electricity”). Twenty-five state Attornies General, led by West Virginia AG Patrick Morrisey, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to invalidate the EPA’s new finalized power plant regulation (see 25 States Led by WV Ask DC Circuit to Overturn EPA Power Plant Reg). The DC Circuit declined to do so, allowing the onerous rules to stand.
Earlier this week, Morrisey and the other AGs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the high court to take the case and, in the meantime, asked the court to block the EPA’s onerous regs from going into effect.
This isn’t Morrisey’s first rodeo. On the first day of seizing power, the Bidenistas at the EPA attempted to use the Clean Air Act to claim carbon dioxide (CO2) is pollution, introducing regulations to control CO2 from power plants. Morrisey and a similar group of state AGs sued, and in 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down EPA’s overregulation (see West Virginia Wins Supreme Court Case Against EPA re Power Plants).
Morrisey says the EPA is ignoring that earlier ruling with these new onerous regulations.
From the Bluefield Daily Telegraph:
West Virginia’s Attorney General on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an emergency stay on the implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently-released new rule on existing coal, natural gas- and oil-fired power plants.
Morrisey’s request follows the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s refusal Friday to block the rule. That rule would force power plants fueled by coal or natural gas to capture smokestack emissions using currently unworkable technologies or shut down, according to Morrisey. It would also regulate those plants under the Clean Air Act by imposing more stringent emissions standards.
Morrisey co-led with Indiana a coalition of 25 states in a lawsuit in May asking the D.C. Circuit to declare the rule unlawful. West Virginia and Indiana again co-led the coalition in the new West Virginia Tuesday filing.
Morrisey said he is standing firm on his assertion that the EPA ignored 2022’s rebuke from the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA.
“The landmark West Virginia v. EPA is clear that Congress placed real limits on what the EPA can do, and we will ensure those limits are upheld,” Morrisey said. “We need the plants to stay open. This is yet another attempt of unelected bureaucrats to push something the law doesn’t allow.” (1)
From The Hill:
//Republican-led states on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to block the Biden administration’s effort to cut planet-warming emissions from the power sector.
Twenty-five states sent a petition to the high court arguing for the Biden rule to be stayed while their case against it plays out after a lower court declined to pause it.
The states argued that they are ultimately likely to succeed in their case and will be harmed if it’s in effect while the litigation against it is ongoing.
Their filing said that the rule’s requirements are “really a backdoor avenue to forcing coal plants out of existence — a major question that no clear congressional authority permits.”
“The Rule likely cannot stand,” the states added.
The rule in question requires existing coal plants and new gas plants to install technology that prevents 90 percent of their carbon emissions. In practice, the rule is expected to accelerate a shift away from coal as some companies opt to shut down their plants instead of meeting the requirements.
In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot explicitly mandate a shift away from any particular power source, but it did not bar the agency from requiring plants to cut their emissions.
It’s not clear whether the court will take up the petition from the states. A trade group representing the coal industry has also indicated it would ask the Supreme Court to take up the issue.
Administrator Michael Regan expressed confidence the agency would prevail in court in remarks at an event in Washington Tuesday.
“We took a step back to be sure that we’re not looking at Clean Power Plan 2, we’re looking at something completely different that’s on the right side of the law,” Regan said. “And we measured twice and cut once and we came up with a very strong, legally durable plan.”
The EPA has said that its rule is expected to prevent 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon emissions through 2047, the equivalent of taking 328 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.
The states asking the court to take the case are: West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming. (2)
Flushing Regan and the other Bidenistas out of power can’t come soon enough.
(1) Bluefield (WV) Daily Telegraph/Greg Jordan (Jul 24, 2024) – WV Attorney General asks Supreme Court to stay EPA’s new power plant rules
(2) Washington (DC) The Hill/Rachel Frazin (Jul 23, 2024) – Red states ask Supreme Court to halt Biden climate rule for power plants