A 25-state coalition led by West Virginia has filed an emergency petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed a federal regulation on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants to remain in force.
“The Rule will impose serious, irreversible harms on States, producers, consumers, and others involved in our nation’s critical power industry,” the states wrote in the petition, which seeks an administrative stay of the rule pending resolution of the case on its merits.
The coalition argues that, under the new rule, producers must choose between attempting to survive under a harsh new regulatory regime or exiting the industry altogether.
“Driven by a distaste for fossil-fuel-fired facilities, EPA sought to force coal-fired plants to close and shift over to EPA’s preferred methods of power generation,” the complainants wrote.
The EPA rule, which was published in April, is part of President Joe Biden’s pledge to eliminate carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 2035 as part of his administration’s focus on fighting climate change.
Coal plants that plan to run beyond 2039 will have to cut their carbon emissions by 90 percent by 2032, with the same reduction standard applied to any new natural gas turbines operating at 40 percent of their maximum annual capacity or more.
In order to comply, the power industry would have to install costly emissions control technologies, cap their operations, or shut down some plants.
The coalition argued that the new emission control standards are unachievable and pose a threat to the reliability of the nation’s power grid. It also said the EPA exceeded its authority by adopting the rule without congressional approval, citing the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision.
Lower Court Decision
Judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in the order that the coalition had not shown that it would likely succeed on the merits, nor was it able to prove its claim of immediate harm because the compliance deadlines don’t take effect until 2030 or 2032.“This is yet another attempt of unelected bureaucrats to push something the law doesn’t allow,” Mr. Morrisey said in a statement about the lower court ruling.
Mr. Morrisey said he believes the EPA ignored the Supreme Court’s 2022 rebuke, while the states’ petition to the high court describes the case as a subtler attempt than EPA’s previous attempt but nevertheless was “déjà vu all over again.”
In 2022, the Supreme Court made clear that “Congress placed real limits on what the EPA can do, and we will ensure those limits are upheld,” Mr. Morrisey said.
“This green new deal agenda the Biden administration continues to force onto the people is setting up the plants to fail and therefore shutter, altering the nation’s already stretched grid,” he continued. “We need the plants to stay open.”
An EPA spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the agency is unable to comment on the coalition’s Supreme Court filing due to the constraints of pending litigation.
However, in an earlier request for comment on the D.C. circuit’s ruling, an EPA spokesperson praised the decision, saying that the new rule would “significantly reduce emissions of harmful carbon pollution from existing coal-fired power plants, which continue to be the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.”
The EPA estimates that the rule will yield up to $370 billion in climate and health net benefits and avoid 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution through 2047. Further, it projects the rule will avoid up to 1,200 premature deaths, 870 hospital and emergency room visits, and 360,000 cases of asthma symptoms.
“All these benefits can be achieved without disrupting the delivery of reliable electricity,” the spokesperson added.
