States, co-ops sue EPA over coal plant CO2 plan

Predictably, a 25-state group and the nation’s rural electric cooperatives have sued the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency over proposed new rules designed to reduce coal-fired power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA rules rely on carbon capture and sequestration to achieve its aims, despite questions about the maturity of the technology.

Attorneys general Drew Wrigley of North Dakota and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia are leading the states’ petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The National Rural Electric Cooperate Association, representing some 900 customer-owned cooperatives across 56% of America’s landscape, filed separately.

The litigation is a scion of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA, brought by 28 states and hundreds of companies, which severely limited the federal government’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions without express statutory language granting that authority. That case unveiled the court’s invention of the “major question doctrine” to overturn the D.C. appeals court’s decision that upheld EPA’s regulatory authority.

Echoing the new doctrine, Wrigley said, “The Biden administration pushes a green political agenda with no purpose other than to attack fossil fuels. Make no mistake, this rule intentionally sets impossible standards to destroy the coal industry. Federal agencies cannot decide on a whim to destroy entire industries. They are only permitted to work within the bounds that Congress set for them.”

Jim Matheson, NRECA CEO, said, “EPA’s power plant rule is unlawful, unreasonable and unachievable. It exceeds EPA’s authority and poses an immediate threat to the American electric grid. Under the rule, EPA illegally attempts to transform the US energy economy by forcing a shift in electricity generation to the agency’s favored sources.” Matheson was a Democratic member of Congress from Utah from 2001 to 2015.

Morrisey, who won the Republican nomination for governor Tuesday (May 14), led the attack in West Virginia v. EPA. In this case, he said, “This rule strips the states of important discretion while using technologies that don’t work in the real world — this administration packaged this rule with several other rules aimed at destroying traditional energy providers. We are confident we will once again prevail in court against this rogue agency.”

The West Virginia Press Association reported that West Virginia senators Republican Shelley Moore Capito and Democrat Joe Manchin “have said they plan to work together on a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval against the rules.” Manchin chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee but is not running for reelection.

E&E news reported last week (May 8) that EPA Administrator Michael Regan defended the rule at a panel of Republican legislators, acknowledging the weight of West Virginia v. EPA. He said, “Our folks have looked very carefully and I want to say we are not attempting to be cute or step outside the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

The E&E News account noted, “The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan took a systemwide approach to reducing carbon pollution. But the Biden rule tackles emissions from individual plants — an approach that EPA and environmental lawyers hope will be more palatable to the Supreme Court.”

Neither the state filing nor that of the NRCA contains any details of their legal approach to the rules. In addition to North Dakota and West Virginia, the states joining the petition include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.

–Kennedy Maize

W.Va. political roundup: Here comes the Justice; Morrisey moves up; Senate Energy musical chairs

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, the last statewide Democratic office holder in the Mountain State and chairman of the important Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he was often at odds with President Joe Biden, did not run for reelection in Tuesday’s primary.

His successor is likely to be the current Republican governor (and former Democrat) Jim Justice, billionaire scion of a prominent coal family. He won the GOP nomination for the Senate seat and is close to a sure thing to win the seat in November. Justice was limited to two terms, so Manchin’s retirement came at the right time for the governor.

Justice, 73, defeated far-right Rep. Alex Mooney, a Maryland expatriate who moved west in order to win a congressional seat. Mooney was a member of the House Freedom Caucus and campaigned against the governor as a tax-and-spend shape shifter.

Justice had the backing of former president Donald Trump. Justice has had a checkered business career after inheriting a coal empire and expanding it into new lines of business, including owning the iconic Greenbriar resort. He was elected governor in 2016 (and Manchin reelected to the Senate in 2018) as a Democrat. He announced his Republican reincarnation at a 2017 Trump rally. Trump won West Virginia, once a solid Democratic stronghold, with 68% of the vote in both 2016 and 2020.

Republican Morrisey, 56, has been West Virginia’s attorney general since 2013 and was odds on bet to become the GOP nominee when Justice said he was running for the Senate. His roots are as a middle-class guy born in Brooklyn and raised in New Jersey. He’s a Rutgers graduate and got involved in Republican politics early. He worked on the 1988 presidential race of George W. Bush at age 21, for a failed GOP gubernatorial race the ne3xt year and was press secretary in Christine Todd Whitman’s failed 1990 Senate race (she lost to basketball icon and Democrat Bill Bradley).

From 2004 to 2012, Morrisey worked for a prominent Washington, D.C., law firm, where he made big money lobbying on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. He ran for the West Virginia office in 2012. He became the first Republican to serve as the state’s attorney general since 1933.

Changes are in order for the Senate energy committee in 2025 with Manchin’s departure. If Republicans capture the Senate (they are only two seats behind the Democrats and Manchin’s seat is likely going to Justice), the likely replacement as chairman is Sen. John Barrasso, 71, of Wyoming, who is currently the no. 3 in the GOP hierarchy and has said he wants to move up to no. 2 when Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) steps down. Energy and livestock are Wyoming’s most important industries.

If the Democrats hold the Senate, the senior Democrat on the committee would be Oregon’s Ron Wyden. He was briefly chairman of the committee (2013-2014) but not likely to seek the energy committee leadership, as he is now chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. He doesn’t even list energy as a key issues on his web site.

Next up is Washington’s Maria Cantwell, 65, who is facing 10 primary challengers in an August election. She has a record on energy issues, with a strong commitment to consumer interests. She’s also the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee since 2021 and may not be interested in moving to another committee.

If neither Wyden nor Cantwell is interested in the energy committee leadership, there may be a scrum for the gavel. A possible winner could be New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich, 52, and dean of the congressional delegation from the Land of Enchantment. Energy is a crucial issue in New Mexico, which is loaded with Department of Energy facilities including two DOE national laboratories (Los Alamos and Sandia).

New Mexican’s have twice headed the energy committee in the past 25 years. Democrat Jeff Bingaman was chairman from 2001-2003. The late Republican Pete Domenici (1932-2017) was chairman from 2003-2007, when Bingaman returned, wielding the gavel until 2013.

–Kennedy Maize

kenmaize@gmail.com

The Quad Report