MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The State of Alabama has joined a coalition of 14 states and state agencies who are suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to push back against the EPA’s latest regulations setting more stringent emissions standards for new, reconstructed and modified oil and gas operations.
The Office of Alabama’s Attorney General released a statement calling the regulations “a job-killing attack on the nation’s oil and natural gas industry.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, petitions the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the EPA’s final rule, arguing that it imposes “unnecessary and burdensome rules upon the oil and natural gas industry, while setting the stage for further limits on existing oil and gas operations before President Obama leaves office.”
“Americans are already taxed and regulated to death by Washington and this new EPA rule is another bureaucratic attempt to restrict access to more affordable energy,” said Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. “We should be working to build up our country’s domestic energy production for the benefit of consumers and our struggling economy, not creating more obstacles to oil and gas.”
The coalition of states contends the EPA’s rule is unnecessary and would raise production and distribution costs and, in turn, force an increase in consumer utility bills. The EPA itself predicts its regulations will cost $530 million in 2025, while other studies project the annual price tag may hit $800 million, according to the AG’s office.
Critics of the rule contend that imposing the regulations will jeopardize jobs in the nation’s natural gas, pipeline and construction sectors, while advocates tout its environmental benefits.
Those signing onto the lawsuit were West Virginia, Alabama, Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wisconsin, along with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
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