Zack Colman of the Washington Examiner reports on state lawmakers’ efforts to battle proposed federal regulations on carbon dioxide emissions.
State lawmakers across the country are expected to take aim at a proposed Environmental Protection Agency rule to limit carbon emissions from power plants, a move that would test the agency’s will to impose sanctions on states that run afoul of the regulation.
Groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, which promotes conservative policies, and the industry-backed American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity have drafted model resolutions and legislation that they are trying to persuade red state lawmakers to introduce in their capitols.
But taking action to handcuff compliance with the EPA rule carries risks. Under the Clean Air Act, the agency could install its own plan for states, withdraw highway funding or make it almost impossible to expand manufacturing, factories and other big polluting facilities by restricting permits.
A showdown is coming either way, said Raymond Gifford, a former Colorado Public Utilities Commission chairman who is now a partner with Denver law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.
According to his firm’s analysis, every state will need to pass legislation that designates which agencies are responsible for drafting a compliance plan for the EPA to review. That process likely will incite battles over whether to include restrictions on what the state will do to meet the regulation.
“You’re looking at a federal collision between the EPA and the states. And the question is more a political one than a legal one. Does the EPA have the legal authority and the political will to, in essence, take over the electricity generation in a lot of states?” Gifford said.
