WASHINGTON (WV News) — U.S. Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is again calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration to reconsider its proposed regulations on power plant emissions.

Capito, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, joined Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., in penning a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan outlining their “significant concerns” about the agency’s rules package.

“We urge the EPA to rescind its Clean Power Plan 2.0 proposal and make affordability, reliability and the limits of its authorities under the Clean Air Act cornerstones of any future proposal,” the senators wrote. “The more time that has passed since the proposal, the more issues with the Clean Power Plan 2.0 have been uncovered.”

The proposed rules would require coal- and natural-gas-fired electric generation facilities to capture or dramatically reduce carbon emissions in the years ahead. The rules would impact gas-fired combustion turbines, existing coal-, oil- and gas-fired steam generating units and certain existing gas-fired combustion turbines.

In their letter, the senators said the EPA’s proposal is “unachievable, uneconomic and unreasonable” because it would rely on unproven technology to achieve its aims.

Additionally, the senators wrote, the rule “clearly runs afoul of the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U.S. _ (2022).”

Capito and Barrasso suggest the EPA should do a “wholesale rewrite” that results in a “new, legally sound proposal and start the rulemaking again.”

Shortly after the EPA’s proposed rules were announced this spring, Capito predicted they would result in the closure of West Virginia’s remaining coal-fired power plants.

“The president’s EPA announced earlier today new regulations that will cause essentially all of our coal-fired power plants — which generate 90% of our electricity in our state — to close by 2032,” she said.

Gov. Jim Justice said he planned to “urge” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey to lead a legal challenge against the rules.

“Without any question, I will absolutely urge our attorney general — Patrick will do a good job with regard to this,” Justice said. “I will urge anybody and everybody to challenge through our court system or whatever it may be to absolutely see that this doesn’t come to pass.”

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has said the rules are “crazy — totally insane.”

“Why can’t this administration understand no means no? You’ve got to have it reliable,” he said. “Coal is basically dispatchable — it runs 24/7, OK? We have renewables. I’m for everything — I’m just not for taking off what I’ve got to have because you want something you want to have, but it doesn’t do that job.”

Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., said the rules are “insulting to hardworking West Virginians.”

“This overbearing EPA rule will kill domestic energy production and force jobs overseas, giving more power to our adversaries,” she said. “Energy security is national security, and I will do everything in my power to stop the Green New Deal from infiltrating the pro-American energy policies House Republicans are fighting for.”