Missouri will join lawsuit challenging the EPA’s new carbon-emission regulations

JEFFERSON CITY – Attorney General Chris Koster said Missouri will join more than 20 other states in suing the Environmental Protection Agency for exceeding its authority in issuing new regulations, collectively known as the “Clean Power Plan,” that set strict limits on carbon emissions for each state.

In a speech at the Missouri Electric Coop’s annual meeting in Branson, Koster explained that he supports Missouri’s ongoing efforts to produce energy more cleanly and efficiently, but that EPA’s plan sets a compliance schedule that is economically risky and robs Missouri of its competitive advantage in low consumer and industrial electrical rates.

“Cleaner energy production is an important goal,” Koster said, “and one Missouri’s energy producers are already working toward.” Koster observed that over the past decade Missouri utilities have added more than 2,200 megawatts of generating capacity from wind power and other renewable resources.

Despite this progress, Koster noted that Missouri’s energy producers estimate that complying with EPA’s deadlines would cost the state more than $ 6 billion. He argued that Missouri is better off maintaining the competitive advantage it enjoys through low-energy costs while continuing to develop low- and zero-emission sources of energy on a more reasonable timeline. “Renewable energy is a vital piece of our state’s energy portfolio,” Koster said. “It is essential, however, that we achieve this goal in an economically responsible way that makes sense for Missouri.”

Koster said that he intends to join with other states in challenging the new regulations when they are formally published. EPA has not publicly announced a firm publication date.