Kentucky joins lawsuit against EPA's climate-settlement agreement; next step: Pass Bluegrass Institute's 'Intrastate Coal and Use Act'

kentucky energy equation

Politico is reporting that Kentucky has joined a lawsuit asking a federal appeals court to declare illegal a 2011 settlement agreement between the EPA, states and environmental groups in which the agency agreed to establish greenhouse gas limits for power plants.

"The states... filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today, asking it to declare the 2011 settlement agreement illegal because power plants are already regulated under another portion of the Clean Air Act," Politico reported. "The untested argument comes from unresolved competing language in House and Senate versions of the passed Clean Air Act."

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the lawsuit represents an effort by his office "to invalidate the EPA's proposed rule that will have devastating effects on West Virginia's jobs and its economy."

Other states joining the lawsuit are Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.

In addition to this important legal action, Kentucky should protect its coal industry and the economic advantages of low energy prices by passing the Intrastate Coal and Use Act, which would prohibit EPA enforcement of environmental regulations on coal that comes out of Kentucky's ground and never leaves the state.

Incidentally, the recently released Kentucky Coal Facts 2014 "about 30 percent of the coal mined last year in the commonwealth was burned in Kentucky power plants."