Attorney General Patrick Morrisey Responds to D.C. Circuit Court’s Clean Power Plan Ruling

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – June 9, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey issued the following statement today in response to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia’s ruling regarding the States’ challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s looming rule concerning existing coal-fired power plants:

“When we filed this case last summer, we knew there would be procedural challenges, but given the clearly illegal nature of the rule and the real harm occurring in West Virginia and throughout the country, we believed it was necessary to take all available action to stop this rule as soon as possible,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “We believe that the litigation has further revealed the weakness of the EPA’s arguments on the merits.

“We are obviously disappointed with the court’s ruling today, but we still think we have a compelling case that the rule is unlawful,” Morrisey said. “The narrow decision today, which put great weight on the fact that the final rule is now imminent given the time it has taken to litigate this suit, said nothing about the legality of EPA’s rule. As the court recognized, the rule will be final very soon, and we look forward to continuing to press the issue. We will continue to take every available step to protect our citizens and the State of West Virginia from this unlawful power grab by Washington bureaucrats.”
Contact Information

Jared Hunt, (304) 558-2021, Jared.K.Hunt (at) wvago (dot) gov