Capito demands hearings on EPA plan to shutter coal-and-gas fired plants

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is asking for additional public hearings to be scheduled on a far-reaching federal Environmental Protection Agency plan that would force the closure of additional coal-and gas-fired power plants.

Capito, the Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined 27 of her colleagues Thursday in urging EPA Administrator Michael Regan to extend the agency’s public comment period for its latest set of proposed power plant regulations.

The latest rules were announced by the Biden administration in May, and Capito has already said she plans to try to overturn them through the Congressional Review Act. She says the EPA has provided only limited opportunities to date for public input on the controversial plan.

“Through the currently announced rulemaking process, the EPA has provided minimal opportunity for public input,” the 27 senators wrote in the letter to Regan. “In the most recent proposal, only one virtual public hearing was announced along with 60 days of public comment. The EPA’s engagement on the Clean Power Plan 2.0 contrasts starkly with past rulemakings of the power sector under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. For example, there have always been multiple public hearings associated with power sector regulations, and comment periods have been as long as 165 days for the proposed Section 111(d) rule in 2014 and 192 days on the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan in 2018. The Agency’s decision to limit severely opportunities for public input in comparison to past rulemakings is especially troubling because the Clean Power Plan 2.0 is a much broader effort with more expansive effects. The American people and the communities we represent must have adequate time to review, reflect, and comment on the proposal and its far-reaching impacts.”

The EPA has scheduled no public hearings to date on the plan in either West Virginia or Virginia.

Senators who signed on to Capito’s letter include Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

Noticeably absent from the list is Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who works with Capito in the U.S. Senate.

The 27 lawmakers are demanding that Regan respond to their request for additional public hearings by June 30.

On the state level, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, also a Republican, has been fighting the various EPA rules proposed by the Biden administration.