In the continuing effort to challenge the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), or as commonly referred the “Carbon Rule,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent out a letter this week to the country’s Governors reiterating his previous advice that states should not comply until legal resolution.
McConnell explains the rare event of the Supreme Court issuing a stay on the plan, “says a lot about the unusual and unprecedented nature of the CPP.” He advises states to “wait” for the decision of the courts before they begin to comply with the Carbon Rule’s provisions.
The letter points out that states should not repeat the same mistakes of past controversial regulations, stating:
“The administration was evidently hoping that states would be so far down the road in developing their compliance plans that they would be committed to those plans before the legal issues surrounding the CPP could be resolved. It is the same strategy this administration followed with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) regulation. While the Supreme Court ultimately struck down the MATS regulation, the damage had already been done.”
In his letter, McConnell also cites the amicus brief he and 200 other lawmakers filed in representation of the states to ensure that the courts strike down this ideological crusade.
McConnell points out that the EPA and the Obama administration clearly ignored the statutory limitations in the Clean Air Act, imposing unfair burdens onto state economies while producing little to no environmental improvements, and that the EPA had assumed Congressional powers that were not delegated to them.
Currently, there are 28 states challenging the Carbon Rule’s legality in court. These states have chosen not to harm their citizens nor their economies for the sake of the President’s legacy. If enacted the Carbon Rule is not only going to strip away key industries such as manufacturing, but will kill affordable energy and well-paying jobs, harming America as a whole as well as within the states.