WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 4, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Sam Olens announced Tuesday that Georgia, along with 23 states filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to strike down the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new source performance standards (NSPS), which effectively prohibits the construction of new, coal-fired power plants.
The lawsuit, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., argues EPA exceeded its legal authority under Section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act in finalizing emissions standards that will jeopardize Georgia’s energy needs, as well as good-paying jobs here and nationwide.
Olens said the NSPS rule relies upon experimental technology that is extremely expensive and unproven on a commercial scale in the United States.
“The Obama Administration once again is trying to increase the cost of electricity for Georgia families and businesses using unconstitutional rules and regulations,” said Olens.
The lawsuit also challenges the legal underpinning of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which many of these same states challenged in federal court last month. The Clean Power Plan aims to drastically reduce or eliminate coal-based energy generation by reducing carbon dioxide emissions at existing power plants by an average of 32 percent by 2030.
“State Attorneys General are the last line of defense to the burdensome, and oftentimes unconstitutional, policies of the Obama Administration,” said Olens. “We have banded together time and time again to protect our states and their families and workers from the unconstitutional overreach of the federal government.”
Other states joining West Virginia in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Other petitioners are the Arizona Corporation Commission, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
