Pence: EPA Emissions Rules Need Changes or Indiana Won’t Comply

Via IndyStar.com:

WASHINGTON – Indiana will refuse to comply with pending rules restricting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants without major changes, Gov. Mike Pence wrote in a letter Wednesday to President Barack Obama.

“If your administration proceeds to finalize the Clean Power Plan, and the final rule has not demonstrably and significantly improved from the proposed rule, Indiana will not comply,” Pence wrote. “Our state will also reserve the right to use any legal means available to block the rule from being implemented.”

The rules are expected to be finalized in August.

Under the initial proposal, Indiana would have to reduce by 20 percent the amount of carbon dioxide generated per unit of electricity by 2030.

Indiana’s power plants produce more carbon dioxide than plants in all but three other states.

Indiana could come up with a plan for meeting that target on its own, and it could join with others for a multistate approach.

If a state does not act, the Environmental Protection Agency will impose its own plan. But congressional Republicans are hoping to take that option away from the EPA.

Indiana was among the 15 states that have already sued to stop the pending rules.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled earlier this month that the states have to wait until the rules are complete to challenge them.

The House is voting Wednesday on a measure to delay the rules.

See the article here.