AG Healey Applauds Court Ruling to Dismiss Challenges to EPA’s Clean Power Plan

AG Healey and Coalition of States Defend EPA’s Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants

BOSTON – June 10, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Maura Healey issued the following statement today in response to a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting challenges by the coal industry and several coal-producing states to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, a proposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act.

“We in Massachusetts stand in strong support of EPA’s Clean Power Plan and applaud EPA’s work with the states to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants, the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, to protect public health, our climate, and natural resources.  We look forward to the release of EPA’s final rule this summer.”

The court’s ruling determined that the petitioners’ challenge was premature and that the court itself lacked jurisdiction to review the proposed rule.

In March 2015, the Attorney General’s Office, intervening in support of EPA along with New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia and the City of New York, submitted briefs to the court in the challenges to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Murray Energy v. EPA  and West Virginia v. EPA. 

For years, the AG’s Office has been a leader in pursuing federal regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act,including leading a coalition of states, in coordination with numerous environmental groups, in the landmark Supreme Court case of Massachusetts v. EPA.  This matter is being handled by Melissa Hoffer, Chief of AG Healey’s Energy and Environment Bureau, and Assistant Attorney General Turner Smith.

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