Attorney General Jason Miyares has pulled Virginia from a brief supporting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a lawsuit to regulate power plants. This is the right move as the EPA’s case is built on an unconstitutional overreach.
After Congress failed to pass cap-and-trade legislation that involved major federal regulations in the energy sector, President Obama, through executive order, created the Clean Power Plan. The plan was designed to do what the failed legislation would’ve done in many respects. Green Matters explains it this way- “It had the planet’s best interest at heart, requiring power plants to generate power with lower-impact natural gases, unless they wanted to close altogether.” They sound so nice while they threaten to shut down power plants and eliminate jobs.
The Clean Power Plan is typical of the new breed of Democrats. They do not believe in federalism and want every law, or in this case every executive order, to be a national mandate, one cookie-cutter for all.
The regulatory arm of the EPA needs to shorten, “unless they [want] to close altogether.” Virginia is right to say this case should be decided in West Virginia’s favor.
