National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Hal Quinn issued this statement following today’s “friend of the court” brief by 34 senators and 171 congressmen urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to find the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan unlawful:

“More than 200 members of Congress today joined more than half the states in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to declare EPA’s costly power plan an unlawful abuse of executive authority. Today’s brief adds further evidence demonstrating that the Clean Power Plan is an unauthorized, unwelcome and unnecessary attempt by EPA to transform the nation’s electricity sector and energy markets at the expense of consumers and state authority.

“Congress previously resolved to block the costly power plan in legislation passed last year, only to face the president’s pocket veto. By joining a majority of states, the coal industry and many other businesses challenging the rule, these elected representatives of hundreds of millions of Americans have provided an unmistakable vote of ‘no confidence’ in EPA’s plan to commandeer states’ energy economies.”

See the release here.