WV AG JB McCuskey is co-leading with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman a coalition of 26 states in a comment letter to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) supporting the agency’s proposed reversal of its 2009 Endangerment Finding under Clean Air Act Section 202(a) and related greenhouse gas vehicle standard. The Finding is the legal underpinning for some of the worst policies of the last decades, including the EPA’s electric vehicle mandates and the so-called Clean Power Plan.
The states explain that that EPA has correctly proposed rescinding the 2009 Endangerment Finding—a key ruling that allowed the agency under the Biden and Obama administrations to dangerously regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars, trucks, and other sources.
“We are proud to stand with President Trump to restore our nation’s energy sector to a place of dominance in the world. Our pathway to prosperity will be built with the carbon fuels beneath our feet,” Attorney General McCuskey said.
“Finalizing this proposed action is an important step to freeing American industry from burdensome, unlawful regulations and restoring the Clean Air Act's proper, congressionally intended structure,” the Attorneys General stated in their submission.
In 2009, the EPA ruled that greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, from vehicle emissions endanger public health and welfare by contributing to climate change. This decision justified creating emissions standards for passenger motor vehicles. The EPA has since relied on the same “endangerment finding” to justify a variety of greenhouse-gas-related regulations in many fields.
The Attorneys General argue that this ruling was illegal because it purported to address a “major question,” a decision that is so economically and politically significant that Congress must authorize it. Congress never gave the EPA the power to do this, resulting in the federal agency overstepping its legal authority.
The Attorneys General also point out that the Finding has put an enormous financial burden on consumers because it makes cars more expensive; forces low-income families to rely on older, used and potentially less safe vehicles; and forces electric vehicle adoption even though the technology and infrastructure are currently insufficient to support a huge shift to these vehicles.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming joined West Virginia and Kentucky in the comment letter to the EPA.