U.S. Court Of Appeals Accepts Arkansas Into EPA Clean Power Plan Suit

A U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia has granted intervention status to the state of Arkansas in a case challenging the EPA’s proposed 111(d) rule, also known as President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

The EPA regulation would cut existing power-plant carbon emissions from 2005 levels by 30% by 2030. Currently, Arkansas environmental and utility regulators are studying the potential impact in conjunction with various stakeholders with an interest in the new rule. Eventually, a state or regional plan to try to comply with the EPA edict will be submitted.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge sought the motion to intervene on Feb. 13 in order to join the lawsuit with attorneys general from West Virginia, Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming and Kentucky.

“As Attorney General, I will seek to protect Arkansans against an overreaching federal government that is attempting to implement heavy-handed regulations that go beyond the scope of the law,” Rutledge said. “This rule goes beyond the EPA’s authority granted by Congress and seeks to impose a national energy policy that will harm Arkansas’s economy.”

Rutledge contends the proposed rule will negatively impact existing industry, future economic development and electric ratepayers in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Sierra Club has advocated for the EPA rule and issued the following statement after the appellate court determination.

“The proposed Clean Power Plan gives Arkansas the power to write its own plan to reduce power plant pollution, helping improve our air, public health, and economy. It’s a federal plan that gives states maximum flexibility on how to achieve pollution protection goals,” said Sierra Club director Glen Hooks in response to the news that Arkansas will now intervene in the lawsuit.

“Unfortunately, one of Attorney General Rutledge’s very first actions was to sue the EPA in an attempt to stop the Clean Power Plan. This action is misguided and does nothing to help Arkansas. Passing the Clean Power Plan will create thousands of clean energy jobs for Arkansans while cleaning up our air and improving health. Our Arkansas officials should work to improve our air, our health, and our economy – not do the bidding of the dirty coal industry to maintain the status quo.”