New Jersey joins 23 states challenging the EPA’s Clean Power Plan

“I will carefully monitor implementation of the plan to make sure there is sufficient flexibility for New Hampshire to meet its goals and that the plan does not have an adverse impact on Granite State energy costs”, Ayotte said.

“We expect polluters and their allies to throw everything they’ve got at the Clean Power Plan, and we expect them to fail”, said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, among those defending the law. Barrett, who co-authored a letter in support of the Clean Power Plan with 33 other legislators, said the federal overreach argument by the state attorneys general suing the EPA doesn’t ring true to him. New Jersey has opposed the proposal ever since the EPA released its draft in 2014, calling the plan fundamentally flawed and claiming that it places an unfair burden on states that have already significantly reduced carbon emissions. One of the key elements of the Clean Power Plan is that it allows states to look for ways to reduce emissions throughout the electricity system, not just at power plants themselves.

“It might be well-intentioned, but with the example of the Clean Power Plan, it’s clear that there could be a few potential real-world impacts”, Greg Dotson, vice president for Energy Policy at Center for American Progress, told ThinkProgress.

As an example, Garbow noted that the codification picks one version of one section of the Clean Air Act – 111(d) – that would invalidate the Clean Power Plan, over another version that authorizes it. West Virginia’s AG Patrick Morrisey said that the regulations are a “blatant and unprecedented attack on coal”.

Ayotte came out in support of the plan now because it was recently finalized, she said. Nationwide, it seeks to reduce carbon pollution by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The Environmental Protection Agency published its “Clean Power Plan” in the Federal Register on Friday, setting off 60 days of official public comment and challenges. A lawsuit filed by Chamber of Commerce, the largest business group in the country, makes a similar case, adding that the climate rules will drive up the cost of doing business for almost every sector in the nation. The Arizona Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality are also part of the states’ challenge. He said it could cost more than $25 billion annually, and the costs would likely be passed on to consumers by 10 percent or more.

Although members of the committee were largely united in their opposition to the Clean Power Plan, several argued the bill could hurt Wyoming by giving the federal government a reason to impose its own plan.