Utah Attorney General Reyes joined a coalition of 25 states in a petition asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to declare the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule unlawful.
The new rule pertains to the procedures under which states submit state implementation plans as mandated by Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.
Under a section of the Clean Air Act, states must submit their plans for the establishment and implementation of performance standards for existing emission sources. The new rule gives states less discretion in figuring out how these existing sources can comply with less time to comply.
“Petitioners will show that the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and otherwise is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law,” the coalition wrote in the petition filed Tuesday.
Along with Utah, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming joined the West Virginia- and Oklahoma-led petition—the Arizona Legislature and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality also joined the petition.
