WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A group of 23 US states have filed a lawsuit over the Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan that seeks to regulate electricity production and consumption, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a release.
"West Virginia is proud to be leading the charge against this administration’s blatant and unprecedented attack on coal," Morrisey said in the release, which was issued on Friday. "The Clean Power Plan is one of the most far-reaching energy regulations in this nation’s history."
On Friday, the 23 states filed the petition in the Court of Appeals, arguing that the EPA rule was illegal and would be damaging to the economic interests of the states and their people.
The EPA claims to have sweeping power to enact such regulations based on a rarely-used provision of the Clean Air Act, but Morrisey argued that such legal authority did not exist
"As Attorney General, I have a responsibility to protect the lives of millions of working families, the elderly and the poor, from such illegal and unconscionable Federal Government actions," he said in the release.
The plan seeks to heavily regulate coal and other fossil fuel power plants, and shift much of the electric grid on to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
