Release date: 6/19/2019
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today released the following statement in response to news that the EPA has repealed the Clean Power Plan, an important effort to confront the climate change crisis:
“The Clean Power Plan was a much needed plan to address the climate change crisis. The EPA’s fig leaf replacement neither promotes clean energy nor meaningfully reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, it incentivizes the continued use of coal power generation. Even under the EPA’s flawed analysis, the new plan will reduce key carbon emissions by less than one percent.
“There are serious legal concerns about this action as well. The EPA has violated its duties under the Clean Air Act, has ignored relevant evidence in the record, and has used false assumptions to generate numbers in its new rule. For these and many other reasons, EPA’s change is arbitrary and capricious.
“The Trump Administration isn’t just sitting idly by as this crisis grows – it is actively making it worse. We need real action to address climate change and the tragic consequences it will bring to our economy and health.”
Attorney General Stein is working with his colleagues in other states to determine next steps. He is committed to using his authority to uphold the law and to combat the crisis of climate change.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484