Today, the United States Supreme Court sent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) back to the drawing board by invalidating its sweeping Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) for power plants on the grounds that the EPA failed to consider how much it would cost to comply with the proposal. The challenge to the regulation was brought by representatives of the electric utility industry and 21 states, including the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which argued that the EPA’s analysis failed to reflect the cost to industry stakeholders and ratepayers of installing billions of dollars’ worth of environmental control equipment.
“Today, the Supreme Court has acknowledged what ratepayers, utilities, state governments, small businesses, manufacturers and farmers have been saying for years,” said Congressman Barr. “The Obama Administration’s EPA is out of control, bypassing Congress and the legislative process to impose economically destructive mandates without considering the costs to American families and businesses.”
“While this particular decision pertains only to the MATS rule, the Court's decision legitimizes the work of the majority in Congress to end the EPA's War on Coal, including its proposed Clean Power Plant rule, which would, if enacted, dramatically increase utility costs for hardworking Americans. Now is the time for the Obama Administration to finally abandon its energy rationing agenda and start working with Congress to enact policies that will protect our environment without killing jobs or raising energy costs.”