(Jack Davis) A coalition of 16 states is working to block the Obama administration’s sweeping emissions limits on power plants.
“These regulations, if allowed to proceed, will do serious harm to West Virginia and the U.S. economy,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Wednesday.
The 16 states and a handful of others are preparing to sue the administration, claiming the presidential edict issued Monday exceeded Obama’s authority. Bolstered by a recent Supreme Court ruling against the administration’s mercury limits, opponents argued that states should not be forced to prepare to comply with a rule that may get thrown out by the courts.
In a letter issued Wednesday, the states asked the Environmental Protection Agency to suspend the rules while the challenge to them goes forward. The EPA has no plans to comply.
Most of the attorneys general signing the letter Wednesday were Republicans. Two top Democrats from the coal-producing state of Kentucky – Attorney General Jack Conway and Gov. Steve Beshear — have joined the state’s Republican leaders in denouncing Obama’s power plant limits.
Lawmakers are also working to stop the new emissions rules. By a voice vote, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Wednesday passed a bill blocking the rules. Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., called the new rules “unachievable without great economic pain,” and said it was a “burden President Obama thinks the American people should bear for the sake of his legacy.”
The Obama plan may impact consumers in more than just the 16 states fighting the edict. According to the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the National Mining Association, the American Energy Alliance, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Obama’s proposal would increase utility bills.