Alabama, coalition of states sue Obama’s EPA to stop assault on coal

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October 23, 2015

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama joined a lawsuit Friday to challenge President Obama’s Clean Power Plan which opponents say would drive up energy costs while causing the loss of energy jobs across the country.

Alabama is one of 24 states listed on the filing.

“Today, Alabama joins nearly half of all U.S. states in challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to force millions of Americans to pay higher electric bills in order to satisfy the political agenda of the Obama Administration’s war on coal,” said Attorney General Strange in a press release Friday.

“The EPA under the guise of a so-called Clean Power strategy is actually attempting a radical transformation in the way electricity is generated in this country, forcing many to suffer higher heating and cooling costs and thousands more to lose their jobs all because it pleases the Obama Administration’s political supporters. Arbitrary downsizing of cost-effective coal-generated electricity in many states, including Alabama, could cost over $25 billion nationally per year with consumers left to foot the bill.”

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new rules will tighten restrictions on coal-fired power plants by limiting the number of new plants allowed to be built and further cut the allowed carbon emissions from existing plants.

The new regulations are also being opposed by a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Friday that he and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) will use the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to file resolutions of disapproval next week in an effort to stop the EPA’s implementation of the new rules.

The CRA resolutions will assert that the Obama administration and its EPA have usurped the powers given to them by Congress, and the states’ lawsuit makes the case that the EPA lacks the power under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to force states to fundamentally restructure their electric grids by requiring them to use less coal-fired energy and build wind and solar facilities.

Alabama is joined in filing the lawsuit by Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.