WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Mining Association (NMA) today issued the following comments from Rich Nolan, NMA president and CEO, on its filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) newly finalized rule establishing greenhouse gas emissions guidelines for existing coal plants, known as the “Clean Power Plan 2.0.” The new rule is modeled after the “Clean Power Plan – CPP” rule promulgated by the Obama administration, which was stayed and declared unlawful by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“This unlawful rule short-circuits the U.S. power grid. It is completely at odds with today’s power generation demands and future needs, and incompatible with the generation portfolio available to power American homes and businesses for the foreseeable future,” said Nolan. “By ignoring the differences in generation mix across the country, variations in weather conditions from state to state, and the vast interstate transmission infrastructure that needs to be sited, permitted and built to make renewable generation broadly viable, the EPA has chosen to ignore reality in favor of election-year campaign promises and undemonstrated technologies. This rule’s clear disregard for Clean Air Act requirements around both mandates and boundaries for agency authority demands legal intervention, which we are beginning today.”
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