(The Center Square) – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is part of a letter opposing a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that would crack down on power plant emissions.
Knudsen, who’s part of a coalition of 21 attorneys general signed on to the letter, said in a news release the agency plans on using the Clean Air Act to impose “more stringent emissions standards,” despite last year’s 6-3 Supreme Court ruling in West Virginia v. EPA that limited its authority to cap emissions.
“The proposed rule at least abandons the more direct ‘generation-shifting’ mandate that the Court rejected in West Virginia – but it still doubles down on the earlier rule’s goals by setting unrealistic standards,” the attorneys general wrote in a letter.
If the proposed rule is finalized, the attorneys general warn that the EPA’s “impossible proposal” will force fossil-fuel-fired plants to close.
“Yet EPA has no more authority to mandate this result indirectly than it did when it tried to do so directly,” the attorneys general wrote. “Thus, the Proposed Rule exceeds EPA’s authority by forcing the kinds of major shifts that West Virginia already said can’t be imposed by way of Section 111(d).”
Knudsen also pointed out that Montana’s economy relies heavily on fossil fuel-fired power plants.
“According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal-fired power plants provided the largest share of Montana’s electricity generation in 2022, accounting for 42 percent of in-state generation,” Knudsen said in the news release. “This EPA-proposed new rule will force those plants to close. Additionally, if the rule is enacted, thousands of Montanans will lose their jobs.”
Joining Knudsen in the letter were the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
