(The Center Square) – Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is joining the fight to stop the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from increasing restrictions on coal-fired power plants.
Yost filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to pause a federal rule that forces states and power plants to comply with what he calls unrealistic and unlawful regulations aimed at air pollution.
There are four coal-fired power plants in the state. One is planned to be converted to natural gas by 2030, and another is planned to close by 2027.
A third plant is only in operation around 60% of the time, while the fourth continues to receive government subsidies through the controversial House Bill 6 until 2030.
The new rule requires coal-fired power plants to store 90% of carbon emissions or shut down within eight years.
In July, the federal D.C. circuit court allowed the rule to move forward while legal challenges were ongoing.
“The EPA has resorted to ‘take it or leave it’ tactics to force its climate agenda on states and their power industries,” Yost said. “Protecting the air we breathe shouldn’t cost us our rights.”
Yost, along with the Kansas attorney general, believes the EPA does not have the authority to establish such rules. The brief points out that the court previously blocked the agency from forcing power plants to shift from fossil-fuel power to other types of power.
Yost said the rule allows the EPA to give power plants a “no-win” option of either risking billions of dollars on “unproven” emissions technology to meet the benchmarks or shut down.
The brief also says that states can choose to immediately spend significant resources to comply with a rule that is likely to prove illegal or stand by as the federal government infringes on their sovereignty.
