Wisconsin sues federal government to halt EPA Carbon Rule

The attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington joined the petition, along with Washington, D.C.; New York City; Boulder, Colo.; Chicago; Philadelphia; and South Miami and Broward County, Fla. The fact is, the Clean Power Plan creates winners and losers in the marketplace – and any big increase in electricity costs will pressure manufacturers to cut costs, starting in many cases, with employees. By expanding the state’s clean energy targets after the initial targets are met in 2020-21, in addition to making better use of the existing fossil fleet, Pennsylvania can reduce existing power plant emissions 46 percent below 2012 levels by 2030.

The Clean Power Plan calls for a 32% reduction in the Commonwealth’s carbon output by 2030, the same reduction the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality says Virginia achieved between 2007 and 2012. Renewable energy and energy efficiency should play a significant role in state compliance plans, given the myriad health and economic benefits of these cost-effective options. Polling by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication finds that restricting Carbon dioxide pollution and requiring a minimum of clean power from utilities are policies supported by majorities of voters, even in states that are suing to stop the Clean Power Plan.

More troubling for this mandate from Washington, the Clean Power Plan mirrors the cap-and-trade scheme that has failed in Congress on every attempt.

The Clean Power Plan also advances the goals of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s comprehensive Virginia energy plan, which prioritizes development of Virginia’s clean energy sector and reducing carbon pollution. In 2014 and earlier this year, when West Virginia and coal producers filed legal challenges during the proposal stage of EPA’s rulemaking, Attorney General Harris and a coalition of states intervened to defend EPA. If a state does not submit a plan to comply with the CPP, the EPA can promulgate a federal plan for that state.

Sandra Byrd, a spokeswoman for the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., which has an ownership interest in four coal-fired plants in Arkansas, said it has a few legal concerns “with respect to the way the rule is drafted and the contents of the rule”.

Such a trading scheme would allow coal plants that might otherwise be shuttered to keep running, the EPA says.

Roberts pushed for taking the extension, a decision Tomblin said he is still considering.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sens.

She said rates for consumers could rise if a coal plant has to be shut down. We simply can’t ignore it any longer. “It’s really hard to assess that at this point in time because the rules won’t even go into effect until 2020”.

Herring said that the emissions reductions are “very much attainable” in Virginia and that the state’s power generators already have made progress, by upgrading facilities and closing a few plants. The utility also plans to close its Yorktown Power Station, which has two coal-fired units and an oil-fired unit, by 2017.