Washington, D.C. – The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) applauds U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt for his Agency’s proposed repeal of the ‘Clean Power Plan’ rules on stationary energy generating sources. This proposed rule, implemented by the Obama administration, would have been disastrous to the U.S. economy, killing critical American jobs, putting the most vulnerable at risk due to skyrocketing electricity costs and which was legally impermissible. Most notably is that Obama’s Clean Power Plan would have had virtually no impact on the climate.
Following are statements by two senior E&E Legal officials.
Steve Milloy, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow and author of JunkScience.com:
“The Clean Power Plan was based on the Obama EPA’s illegal and scientifically bankrupt endangerment finding.
The Obama EPA made up its mind to condemn CO2 before the endangerment rulemaking began, ignored the ongoing global warming pause and then finalized the finding despite the shocking Climategate emails confirming the scientific corruption of the climate alarmists.
Particularly galling was the Obama-invented “social cost of carbon.” In reality, there is no social cost of carbon because without fossil fuels, society stops — for example, witness Puerto Rico after Maria.
Ironically, the Obama Clean Power Plan was not justified on the basis of reduced CO2 emissions but on the “co-benefit” of lives saved by reduced particulate matter emissions. The notion that coal plant particulate emissions kill people has now been totally debunked. So the Obama Clean Power Plan has absolutely no legs to stand on.
Kudos to Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt for keeping this vital campaign promise.”
Chaim Mandelbaum, E&E Legal General Counsel:
“The Energy & Environment Legal Institute filed suit against the Obama ‘Clean Power Plan’, joining dozens of states and hundreds of power companies, unions, trade associations, and other non-profits also fighting the rule, because the rule improperly expanded the power of the EPA well beyond what Congress intended, and had been created at the behest of green activist groups, which the Obama EPA illegally invited to hold the pen in creating the scheme, fatally tainting the rulemaking process..
“Through our Freedom of Information Act work we uncovered documents showing that the authors of the Obama ‘Clean Power Plan’ were in constant contact with green activist groups, often hiding this contact from the public through the use of GMail, and illegally keeping these records out of the material used to justify the rule. This material showed that these green activists shaped and directed the making of the rule, excluding other parties who would be impacted.
In opening the process of repealing the rule today, the EPA led by Administrator Pruitt is taking an important step in correcting the errors of the past administration. We are grateful to him and his team for their commitment. We intend to remain active in supporting this repeal and in helping to foster robust discussion on what, if any, rule should replace the extreme overreach that was Obama’s ‘Clean Power Plan’.”
About EE Legal
The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) is a 501(c)(3) organization engaged in strategic litigation, policy research, and public education on important energy and environmental issues. Primarily through its petition litigation and transparency practice areas, E&E Legal seeks to correct onerous federal and state policies that hinder the economy, increase the cost of energy, eliminate jobs, and do little or nothing to improve the environment.
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