Coal-industry group praises senators for spotlighting Clean Power Plan perils

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) praised the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), for calling attention to the Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan.

 “All branches of our government must come to realize the administration’s Power Plan represents an unprecedented intrusion into states’ rights,” ACCCE President and CEO Mike Duncan said.

During the hearing, titled “Implications of the Supreme Court Stay of the Clean Power Plan,” the committee discussed the plan’s status after the Supreme Court’s stay in February. The plan, which regulates emissions from new and existing power plants, was challenged almost immediately after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized it. The Supreme Court has suspended the plan’s implementation until the legal cases against it have been settled, a move that received ‘total support’ from 49 percent of respondents in a recent poll.

 “We thank Chairman Inhofe and his colleagues for calling attention to the importance of the Supreme Court’s extraordinary stay of this illegal rulemaking,” Duncan said. “Without the stay in place, states would be forced to make long-term decisions that could needlessly result in lost jobs and higher energy bills.”