Thirty-nine Senate Republicans are sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency requesting its proposed limits on power plant emissions not be implemented, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Post.
"The EPA has again grossly misinterpreted the scope of authority Congress granted under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act," reads the letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
The proposed rule in question would require coal and gas power plants to utilize cleaner fuels and engage in carbon emission capture to reduce emissions. The EPA estimates that if this proposal is enacted it would result in 617 million fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted.
“By requiring the best system of emission reduction for coal plants to install and operate CCS technology at a 90-percent carbon dioxide capture rate by 2030, the EPA is effectively requiring these plants to shut down,” the Republican wrote in their letter.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, is behind the letter, and convinced 38 of her Republican colleagues in the Senate to sign, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken. Capito also introduced a resolution of disapproval to end the proposed rule in May.
“I don’t know where this will put West Virginia except in the crosshairs of the destruction of jobs, competitiveness and other areas where we will be severely punished,” Capito said in a press conference about her resolution.