Arizona has joined a 24-state coalition urging President-elect Donald Trump and congressional leaders to withdraw President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. The bipartisan letter, addressed to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Senate President Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Paul Ryan, suggests a four-point strategy that begins with President-elect Trump rescinding his predecessor’s Climate Action Plan on day one.
The coalition suggests President-elect Trump follow with formal administrative action to withdraw the Power Plan and related matters in court. Such action will properly effectuate the rule’s withdrawal, while negotiating an end to pending litigation.
Finally, the coalition recommends Congress take longer-term legislative action. The proposed legislative fix aims to prevent any future U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from drafting similarly unlawful and/or more extreme rules. The coalition suggests the new White House work with Congress to adopt such legislation.
Arizona and 26 other states challenged the EPA’s Power Plan on Oct. 23, 2015, the very day it was published. That coalition then halted the rule’s enforcement by winning an unprecedented and historic stay of the regulation Feb. 9, 2016, before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 24-state coalition signing the letter includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, along with the Mississippi and North Carolina Departments of Environmental Quality.