FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS ADVISORY
October 23, 2015
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 1
ATTORNEY GENERAL LUTHER STRANGE ANNOUNCES ALABAMA JOINS
MULTI-STATE LAWSUIT TO HALT EPA’S FLAWED CLEAN POWER PLAN
(MONTGOMERY) – Attorney General Luther Strange announced today that Alabama and 23
other states have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Obama Administration’s so-called
Clean Power Plan which would drive up energy costs while devastating thousands of energy
jobs across the country.
“Today, Alabama joins nearly half of all U.S. states in challenging the Environmental Protection
Agency’s plan to force millions of Americans to pay higher electric bills in order to satisfy the
political agenda of the Obama Administration’s war on coal,” said Attorney General Strange.
“The EPA under the guise of a so-called Clean Power strategy is actually attempting a radical
transformation in the way electricity is generated in this country, forcing many to suffer higher
heating and cooling costs and thousands more to lose their jobs all because it pleases the Obama
Administration’s political supporters. Arbitrary downsizing of cost-effective coal-generated
electricity in many states, including Alabama, could cost over $25 billion nationally per year
with consumers left to foot the bill.”
Opposition among the states to the EPA’s so-called Clean Power Plan has doubled since the first
lawsuit was filed in August 2014. In June 2015, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals set aside that
lawsuit, which was filed by 12 states including Alabama, because it was filed before the EPA
had officially released its Clean Power Plan rule. Today’s lawsuit which includes 24 states was
filed in the same DC Circuit Court of Appeals.
In the multi-state lawsuit, the states make clear that EPA has no legal authority to promulgate
or enforce its new rule. The EPA lacks the power under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to
force states to fundamentally restructure their electric grids by requiring them to use less coal-
fired energy and build costly wind and solar facilities. The rule is also illegal because it seeks to
require states to regulate coal-fired power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act,
even though EPA already regulates those same plants under Section 112 of the Act, double
regulation that is flatly prohibited by the Clean Air Act.
Alabama is joined by Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina,
Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming in
filing the lawsuit.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.alabama.gov
