Delaware is joining more than two dozen states, counties and cities battling the Environmental Protection Agency over emissions.
Outgoing Attorney General Matt Denn is objecting on the state’s behalf to the EPA’s decision to reverse the Clean Power Plan enacted in 2015.
The plan was the nation’s first-ever limit on carbon emissions for fossil fuel power plans.
The Trump Administration EPA is proposing what it calls The Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which it says could provide $400 million in annual net benefits as a replacement to the Clean Power Plan.
But Denn says the EPA’s own analysis predicts the new rule could result in more than 60 million tons more climate change pollution than the Obama-era plan.
A list of comments submitted by the coalition of 26 states and municipalities points to a list of scientific findings supporting the theory of human-induced climate change.
This includes measurements from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration showing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels exceeding the 410 parts per million threshold for the first time this spring.
In a statement Denn said, “The replacement rule proposed by President Trump’s EPA turns its back on the success of Delaware and other states in reducing carbon pollution from power plants, and instead will uncork the power plants’ smokestacks and let them put more pollution in our air.”
Denn adds, “The proposed rule contains factual inaccuracies, analytical errors, and legal flaws, and as a result would be unlawful if adopted.”
The EPA will take comment on its new proposal for 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register and a public hearing will be held.
