Alabama among 29 states calling on US Supreme Court to stay EPA’s clean power plan

(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced that Alabama is among a bipartisan coalition of 29 states and state agencies asking the United States Supreme Court to immediately halt the Obama administration’s unlawful and job-killing Clean Power Plan. The states argue that the Environmental Protection Agency’s unprecedented attempt to reorder the nation’s energy sector violates federal law.

“Once again, President Obama has attempted to radically expand the power of the federal government by adopting policies through executive action that Congress has refused to enact,” said Attorney General Luther Strange. “But the scope of President Obama’s job-killing Clean Power Plan is unprecedented. If this new EPA rule is allowed to go into effect, it will shutter coal-fired power plants around the country, resulting in higher electricity costs and fewer jobs. The United States Supreme Court should act to immediately stay this rule until the lower courts can address the serious concerns the states have raised about its legality.”

The bipartisan coalition of states challenged the EPA’s power plan on October 23, 2015, the day it was published. Those urging the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately halt the EPA’s unlawful power plan include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, along with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Mississippi Public Service Commission, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.