Court-Mandated Halt of Administration’s Anti-Coal Regulation Shows Merits of ‘Wait and See’ Approach

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote to the nation’s governors today regarding the Supreme Court’s recent nationwide stay of the Obama Administration’s so-called “Clean Power Plan” (CPP) – a massive regulatory plan that will not have a meaningful impact on global emissions but will punish states’ most vulnerable citizens and ship middle-class jobs overseas.

The letter follows one he sent governors in March 2015, urging them to carefully review the consequences of this deeply-misguided plan and to reject submitting a state implementation plan to the Obama Administration until the courts rule on its legality.

In today’s letter, Senator McConnell wrote, “The court’s action in State of West Virginia et.al. v. EPA et.al. will likely extend well beyond this administration, providing a welcome reprieve to states while simultaneously underlining the serious legal and policy concerns I wrote you about last year. In that letter I advised you to carefully consider the significant economic and legal ramifications at stake before signing your states up to a plan that may well fall in court, given that it was unclear — in my view, unlikely — such a plan could survive legal scrutiny… This is precisely why I suggested a ‘wait-and-see’ approach with respect to the CPP last year… even if the CPP is ultimately upheld, the clock would start over and your states would have ample time to formulate and submit a plan; but if the court overturns the CPP as I predict, your citizens would not be left with unnecessary economic harm. Nor would your states be left with responsibility for billions in unnecessary investment obligations.”

Senator McConnell added, “Moving forward, I hope that each of you will consider taking advantage of the relief granted by the Supreme Court and keep in mind that many of us in Congress stand ready to help you as you fight for the best interests of your states.”

The full text of Senate Majority Leader McConnell’s letter is HERE.