Florida joins lawsuit against new EPA rule to reduce carbon pollution from power plants

Florida and two dozen other states Thursday filed a legal challenge to a new U.S. Environmental Protection rule aimed at reducing carbon emissions from power plants.

The states filed a petition at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that alleged the EPA overstepped its legal authority.

“Petitioners will show that the final rule exceeds the agency’s statutory authority and otherwise is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law,” the petition said. “Petitioners thus ask that this court declare unlawful and vacate respondents’ final action.”

The rule was published Thursday in the Federal Register. Information posted on the EPA website said “the final limits and emission guidelines are based on proven pollution control technologies that can be applied directly to power plants and can achieve substantial reductions in carbon pollution at reasonable cost.”

Other states filing the challenge were West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

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