Obama Carbon Rules to Face Lawsuits, Congressional Tests
Challengers are expected to focus on whether the EPA exceeded its powers by
pushing utilities to shift to cleaner forms of energy
WSJ
WASHINGTON—What is expected to be a yearslong legal and political battle
over President Barack Obama's legacy on climate change formally kicked off
Friday, with two dozen states filing a lawsuit against regulations aimed at
cutting U.S. carbon emissions.
The states sued in a Washington-based federal court challenging the
initiative, which seeks to reduce carbon output from hundreds of power
plants across the nation. Congressional Republicans also say they will
introduce measures in the coming week seeking to block the rules.
The moves will put pressure on the administration from the two other
branches of government and, if successful on either front, could cast
uncertainty over the rules into the next presidential administration.
The legal challengers are expected to contest the Environmental Protection
Agency's authority on a range of grounds, some of them little explored by
the courts. Industry associations and companies also are expected to file
separate cases as soon as Friday.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, one of the leaders of the
states' lawsuit, said the EPA rule was illegal and "one of the most
aggressive executive-branch power grabs we've seen in a long time."
Mr. Morrisey said the state challengers later on Friday would ask the court
to block the EPA rules temporarily while they mount their case, an early
legal battle that could provide clues about which side will have the upper
hand in the litigation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), meanwhile, said Friday
that he will lead a mostly Republican-backed effort to invoke a rarely used
legislative tool that enables lawmakers to nullify recently completed rules
with a simple majority vote of both the House and Senate.
The EPA published the rule in the Federal Register on Friday, a necessary
bureaucratic move that clears the way for opponents to mount challenges.
In the works since 2013 and issued in early August, the regulations require
a 32% cut in power-plant carbon emissions by 2030 based on emissions levels
of 2005.
Coal-fired electricity produced about 34% of the U.S.'s electricity in July
and a much larger share in some Midwestern and Appalachian states. The coal
industry is expected to be hit the hardest because coal emits the most
carbon emissions of any power source. Many of the states and politicians
leading the legal and political challenges, including West Virginia and
Kentucky, depend heavily on coal for their economies and electricity.
The EPA is relying upon a seldom-used section of the Clean Air Act called
111(d) as its authority for the rules, which leaves an opening for legal
scrutiny. Challengers are expected to focus on whether the agency exceeded
its powers by pushing utilities to shift to cleaner forms of energy instead
of just focusing on pollution controls at fossil-fuel-fired power plants.
Senior EPA officials say they are confident the rules, known as the Clean
Power Plan, are legally sound.
"The Clean Power Plan has strong scientific and legal foundations, provides
states with broad flexibilities to design and implement plans, and is
clearly within EPA's authority under the Clean Air Act," EPA Administrator
Gina McCarthy said Friday.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-carbon-rules-to-face-lawsuits-congressional-tests-1445611059?alg=y
