South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley and North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley have joined a coalition of 25 states in a petition asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to declare unlawful a proposed federal rule removing further state discretion with the Clean Air Act.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed that states must submit their plans for the establishment of implementation of standards of performance for existing emission sources. But the proposed new rule gives states less discretion in figuring out how these existing sources can comply with less time to comply.
“This rule exceeds the EPA’s statutory authority,” said Jackley. “The EPA’s action is less about protecting the environment and more about taking decision-making away from our State.”
“The EPA has no authority to overregulate in this way, and this in just the latest in a string of Biden Administration attacks that are costly, ineffective and illegal.” said Wrigley.
Under a section in the Clean Air Act, states must submit their plans for the establishment of implementation of standards of performance for existing emission sources. The new rule gives states less discretion in figuring out how these existing sources can comply with less time to comply.
“Petitioners will show that the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and otherwise is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law,” the coalition wrote in the petition filed Tuesday (Jan. 16, 2024).
Other Attorneys General who joined the petition are from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The Arizona Legislature and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also joined the petition.
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