FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:    Thursday, April 16, 2015 
CONTACT:  Sara Rabern  (605) 773-3215 

Oral Arguments Set for Greenhouse Gas Regulations Case

 
 
PIERRE –    Attorney General Marty Jackley announced today that the D.C. Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lawsuit today. South Dakota joined ten other states in a lawsuit challenging the legality of the 2010 settlement agreement the EPA entered into that required the EPA to propose new greenhouse gas regulations upon existing coal fired plants.

“Protecting the environment through reasonable regulation and enforcement is important to South Dakota. The process and unprecedented action taken by the EPA to expand its authority is unnecessarily affecting economic development and our agricultural industry in South Dakota. In the end these attempts at regulation will only work to stifle economic development, and increase energy prices upon the consumer,” said Jackley.

In 2014, South Dakota joined the West Virginia lawsuit asking the Court to hold the settlement agreement unlawful, and to enjoin the EPA from implementing any final coal fired power plants rule under 111(d) of the Clear Air Act.
 

-30-