Power Industry Pushes Back on EPA Regs

Representatives from the power plant industry and a group of state attorneys general are challenging rules requiring significant cuts in power-plant carbon emissions.

“We believe in this final rule the EPA is trying to convert itself from an environmental regulator to a central planning authority of states’ energy economies,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whose office is leading a 15-state coalition challenging the rule in court.

The EPA issued regulations in its new Clean Power Plan in early August under a seldom-used section of the Clean Air Act. The rules, in the works since 2013 and the cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s climate agenda, call for a 32% cut in power-plant carbon emissions by 2030 based on emissions levels of 2005.

Challengers say Congress never intended the provision, which requires states to devise pollution-reduction plans, as a sweeping grant of power to the EPA. They argue the agency exceeded its powers by pushing utilities to shift to cleaner forms of energy instead of just focusing on pollution controls at fossil-fuel-fired power plants.

States led by New York and Massachusetts support the regulations and pledge to back the EPA in court. S