25 States Challenge EPA’s Carbon Emissions Rule for Coal- and Gas-Fired Power Plants

Attorneys general from 25 states, including West Virginia and Indiana, have launched a legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) emissions rule for coal- and gas-fired power plants, arguing that it goes beyond the agency’s authorities under federal law, ignores previous court rulings, and would result in plant closures. The rule, which would require existing coal- and gas-fired plants to either capture smokestack emissions or shut down, is set to take effect starting in 2032. The states believe that Congress has not granted EPA the necessary powers to reorganize the country’s energy infrastructure, and that the rule flouts the 2022 US Supreme Court ruling in the case of West Virginia v. EPA, which cautioned the agency against compelling coal-fired power stations to close massively. The EPA’s final Clean Air Act rule aims to limit the carbon discharge of coal-fired units and fresh gas-fired facilities by 90%, which could reduce 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon pollution between 2023 and 2047, equivalent to 328 million cars’ yearly emissions. Nonetheless, critics, such as the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), claim that the rule is unlawful, unreasonable, and unattainable, and that it exceeds the EPA’s authority, jeopardizing the American electrical network, particularly as the economy becomes more reliant on electricity. The suit involves West Virginia and Indiana, along with Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. West Virginia’s Attorney General, Patrick Morrisey, has pledged to submit a request for an emergency suspension of the “burdensome” regulation as soon as feasible.