P.O. Box 7857
Madison, WI 53707-7857
www.doj.state.wi.us
BRAD D. SCHIMEL
ATTORNEY GENERAL
NEWS RELEASE
Wisconsin files suit against federal government to halt “Carbon Rule”
November 3, 2015
Contact: Anne E. Schwartz 608-266-6686
MADISON — Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, along with 23 other states, filed a
federal lawsuit against another section of the Obama Administration’s “Clean Power Plan” which aims to drastically reduce or eliminate coal-based energy generation by reducing carbon
dioxide emissions at existing power plants by an average of 32 percent by 2030.
The section known as 111(b), sets carbon emission limits for newly constructed coal- and natural
gas-fired power plants. The suit asks the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. to strike
down the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new source performance standards, which
effectively prohibit the construction of new, coal-fired power plants.
“The EPA exceeded its authority in finalizing emissions standards that are unattainable in
Wisconsin,” AG Schimel said. “Wisconsin is committed to attacking the EPA’s overregulation
of our electric industry on all fronts. This is one more battle we must fight to protect
manufacturing jobs in our state.”
The rule prevents Wisconsin from building a new coal-fired power plant by requiring new plants
to use carbon capture and sequestration, a developing technology that has not been “adequately
demonstrated” as required by the Clean Air Act. New coal plants are required to capture a
portion of the carbon emissions, and pump the carbon to underground storage facilities. Because
Wisconsin’s geology does not support carbon storage, Wisconsin plants likely would be forced
to build pipelines to transport captured carbon to another state, making the construction of a new
plant cost-prohibitive.
The technology is not only costly, but unproven. For example, the Kemper County energy
facility, an electrical generating station in Mississippi attempting to install the technology, has
spent three times the original budget and is more than two years behind schedule on the project.
Today’s filing follows a related challenge to another section of the “Clean Power Plan” – Section
111(d) which regulates emissions from existing power plants. The Clean Air Act requires the
EPA to set limits on new power plants before it sets limits on existing plants. If the states win
their challenge on 111(b), it could prevent the EPA from enforcing regulations for both new and
existing plants.
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Wisconsin files suit to halt “Carbon Rule”
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Other states joining Wisconsin in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Other petitioners are the
Arizona Corporation Commission, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
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