25 AGs Ask SCOTUS to stay EPA regs

As President Biden pushes ahead with his aggressive green-energy agenda, 25 state attorneys general are asking the Supreme Court to step in. They want the high court to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing draconian carbon-emission regulations that critics say would drive electricity higher prices and increase the danger of power blackouts.

“The rule in question threatens to significantly impact our state’s energy costs and reliability by mandating technologies that are currently impractical and costly for our power plants to implement,” said New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, one of the participants.

The EPA’s “Clean Power Plan 2.0” carbon-emissions rule mandates existing coal plants and new baseload natural gas plants deploy carbon capture and storage at a 90% capture rate by 2032. There are no power plants in operation that meet this mandate.

As a result, critics warn, the availability of baseload electricity nationwide could plunge even as the demand for electricity due to green-energy mandates soars.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled last month that the EPA could move forward with its regulations, rejecting the argument that the case invoked a “major questions” issue. Under the “major questions” doctrine, significant public policy changes can’t be made by regulators via policy changes. Such decisions require an act of Congress.

America’s Power, which represents the coal industry, and the National Mining Association filed a request for a stay with the Supreme Court. It considered the lower court simply ignored the high court’s previous rulings.

“It is rare for a federal agency to attempt to evade this Court so brazenly. “The EPA is now attempting to accomplish through a clumsy sleight-of-hand what this Court has already held it cannot do,” they wrote.

The risk to ratepayers — who have already seen average retail electricity rates rise 20% since 2020 — is the potential effect on natural gas power generation. Natural gas generates about 43% of US electricity.

However, ending coal generation, which accounts for 13% of power generation nationwide, could also hurt consumers by pulling supply out of the national market, driving up the costs of electricity. Goldman Sachs Research estimates demand for electricity to power data centers will grow 160% by 2030.

Then there are the legal challenges to the Biden policy. Critics like the National Taxpayers Union say it’s a revision of an Obama-era order the Supreme Court already struck down, ruling it regulatory overreach.

The AGs agree, calling Biden’s plan “deja vu all over again.”

Energy experts say the administration is attempting to impose carbon-emission levels from a world that does not exist. “We are disappointed that the (EPA) did not address the concerns we raised about carbon capture and storage,” said Edison Electric Institute president and CEO Dan Brouillette. He does not think the technology will be ready for full-scale use by 2032 when the regulations are set to go into effect.

Evan Lips covers politics and politics for NHJournal.com.