24 US states ask for withdrawal of Obama's Clean Power Plan

President-elect Donald Trump and the US Congress have been approached by a 24-state coalition with an action plan of how to withdraw outgoing president Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

The 24 states and state agencies, led by West Virginia attorney general Patrick Morrisey and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, last week sent a letter to vice president-elect Michael Pence, senate president Mitch McConnell and house speaker Paul Ryan, requesting an executive order on day one that cancels the rule.

The Clean Power Plan, announced in 2015 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), sets carbon dioxide (CO2) emission limits for existing power plants in separate states. The main goal is to cut CO2 emissions by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030, thanks to the use of more renewables and other measures. The enforcement of the rule was halted in early 2016.

The 24-state coalition calls the rule unlawful and unconstitutional. It says that the plan is at odds with section 111 of the Clean Air Act, which does not allow the EPA to mandate that states implement emission reductions relying on the elimination of operations at a regulated source.

In addition to asking for the withdrawal of the rule, the coalition also wants the new administration to instruct the EPA to make no further attempts to enforce the plan.

The states that take part in this coalition are West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming, as well as the Mississippi and North Carolina departments of environmental quality.

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