Texas Attorney General Declares War on EPA’s Carbon Rule

AUSTIN--According to a press release from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, on Monday the Texas Attorney General warned of the impact the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) so-called Clean Power Plan (“Carbon Rule”) would have on the livelihoods and quality of life of Texans at a luncheon hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. The rule would result in higher electricity costs and less reliability for Texans, all while doing little to nothing to affect the environment.

“The Obama Administration’s Carbon Rule is an example of the president forcing through what he couldn’t accomplish legislatively,” Paxton said. “This program will result in the premature retirement of existing power plants, damaging the reliability of our electric grid, and resulting in significantly higher energy costs for businesses and consumers alike. Overregulation stifles growth, kills existing jobs and hinders the creation of new ones. That’s why we fight, and that’s why we’ll continue to fight back against the EPA’s Carbon Rule.”

Compliance costs for the Carbon Rule will be massive, totaling more than $28 billion annually through 2030 according to a recent study commissioned by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Texas’ required reductions would be vastly out of proportion to other states; while Texas produces 11 percent of the electricity in the United States, Texas would be required to contribute 18 percent of the overall national reduction. In order to meet that mandate, Texas would have to slash carbon emissions by 38 percent.

Texas has demonstrated that it can clean its air without destroying the energy sector. From 2000 to 2010, Texas reduced its emissions by almost twice as much as states such as California. And despite the past 15 years of rapid population and economic growth, nitrogen oxide and ozone levels are down and Texans are breathing cleaner air.

Attorney General Paxton last month announced Texas intends to challenge the Carbon Rule when it is finalized by the EPA later this summer.