34 Senators, 171 Representatives file amicus brief supporting case against EPA’s Clean Power Plan

A group of 34 U.S. Senators and 171 U.S. Representative recently filed an amicus brief in a case raised by 27 states to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan regulation.

“The Final Rule goes well beyond the clear statutory directive by, among other things, requiring states to submit, for approval, state or regional energy plans to meet EPA’s predetermined CO2 mandates for their electricity sector,” the legislators stated in their brief. “In reality, if Congress desired to give EPA sweeping authority to transform the nation’s electricity sector, Congress would have provided for that unprecedented power in detailed legislation.”

The group of legislators is led by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Senate majority leader; Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee; U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee; and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY), chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee.

“Because of the Final Rule, states will face unprecedented new regulatory burdens, electricity ratepayers will be subject to billions of dollars in compliance costs, and American workers and their families will experience the hardship of job losses due to power plant shutdowns, higher electricity prices, and overall diminishment of the nation’s global economic competitiveness,” the brief stated. “Choices of this nature are inherently Congressional decisions…Accordingly, the Final Rule that has been properly stayed by the Supreme Court should now be vacated by this Court.”