Attorney General Ken Paxton today petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule titled “Protection of Visibility: Amendments to Requirement for State Plans.” Among other things, the rule gives authority to federal land managers to make Clean Air Act certifications of visibility impairment when the Clean Air Act does not grant them that authority. The rule took effect January 10.
“This rule is both out of compliance with the law and clear abuse of discretion by the Obama administration,” Attorney General Paxton said. “This is yet another midnight attempt by the Obama administration to grab power that Congress has not given to it.”
Previously, Texas sued the EPA over its disapproval of its state regional haze plan and imposing the EPA’s own plan instead. Texas and aligned energy companies were successful in obtaining a stay of the EPA’s plan because they showed the Court, among other things, that the EPA had failed to consider the energy impact of its plan in Texas, particularly on electric generating capacity.