16 states ask EPA to put rules on hold

Source: Jeremy P. Jacobs, E&E reporter • Posted: Thursday, August 6, 2015

16 states ask EPA to put rules on hold”This request is a necessary first step and prerequisite to confronting this illegal power grab by the Obama administration and EPA,” Morrisey said in a statement.

The effort includes predominantly Republican-led states. They are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming and West Virginia.

Their request to EPA says that “absent an immediate stay,” the regulations “will coerce the States to spend enormous public resources and to put aside sovereign priorities to prepare State Plans of unprecedented scope and complexity.” It goes on to say that “courts are likely to conclude” the regulations are “unlawful.”

It is very unlikely EPA would grant such a stay request, but the filing is part of a coordinated campaign between these states and industry groups against the final rule. They have asked EPA to respond by Friday.

At that point, they will likely turn their attention to the courts, asking the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to stay the rule.

Click here for the stay request.