by Michael Bastasch
The Daily Caller

California’s green energy mandates played a role in forcing the closure of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona, potentially opening up the Golden State to a federal lawsuit, according to a former lawmaker.

Under state law, California public utilities are basically prohibited from renewing contracts with coal-fired power plant. Utilities must instead use fuels that emit less carbon dioxide, like natural gas, solar and wind power…

The Energy and Environment Legal Institute sued Colorado in 2014, arguing the state’s green energy mandate created artificial barriers to interstate commerce. A federal court rules against E&E Legal, but another federal court sided with North Dakota that same year challenging Minnesota’s green energy mandate.

The 8th Circuit Court ruled in April 2014 that Minnesota’s mandate was “impermissible extraterritorial legislation and therefore a per se violation of the dormant commerce clause.”

“They work to divide the interstate market for a commodity that is fungible and indistinguishable, namely electricity, by letting each state create artificial barriers to electricity based on how they define so called ‘green energy generation’ and then close off a portion of their state market to only energy produced in that fashion,” Chaim Mandelbaum, counsel to E&E Legal, told TheDCNF.

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