CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Public Service Commission of West Virginia objects to new air quality emission standards proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The PSC filed objections to the standards proposed on Tuesday, calling them “unconscionable.”
“The new rules are an “end run” around deficiencies in earlier EPA air quality standards and “will result in the closure of fossil fuel generating stations,” the PSC said.
EPA’s proposal, in their words, regards, “strengthening effluent limitations guidelines and standards for electric generating point sources.”
The Commission, in its 12-page filing of objections, said litigation would follow if the proposed rules took effect, claiming the EPA is acting beyond its authority.
“The proposed rules implementation would be exorbitantly costly,” the Commission said. “It also would endanger the reliable supply of electricity.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said there are already 21 states joining him in a letter that opposes the changes proposed that would effect existing plants that are powered by coal, oil, or natural gas.
“This proposal also strips states of important discretion while using technologies that don’t work in the real world, so it sets up the plants for failing to meet the standards dictated in the rule, leaving the plants with no other option but to cease operations,” Morrisey said. “This is designed to scare more coal-fired power plants into retirement, the goal of the Biden administration’s so-called green new deal.”
The letter explains how the proposal violates the Supreme Court’s decision on West Virginia v. EPA.
The Commission also mentioned that decision where set emission standards were invalidated by a U.S. Supreme Court decision and the EPA withdrew the rule. The PSC accused the EPA of an “unconscionable” attempt to change the rules by way of a “bait and switch tactic,” trying to bypass the previous rules.
“That tactic is unacceptable, and this rule appears to utterly fly in the face of the rule of law,” Morrisey said. “The U.S. Supreme Court has placed significant limits on what the EPA can do—we plan on ensuring that those limits are upheld, and we expect that we would once again prevail in court against this out-of-control agency.”
The proposal attempts to regulate coal-, oil-, and natural gas-fired plants plants under the Clean Air Act by “imposing more stringent emissions standards”, according to Morrisey.