February 23, 2017
RALEIGH - Molly Diggins, State Director of the NC Sierra Club, issued the following statement today (Feb. 23) after North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, at the request of DEQ Secretary Michael Regan, filed a motion to withdraw the state from participation in a multi-state lawsuit challenging the federal Clean Power Plan:
Today, tens of thousands of Sierra Club members and supporters can thank DEQ Secretary Regan and Attorney General Stein for acting to withdraw North Carolina from a costly and misguided challenge to EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
It never made sense for North Carolina to join a fight against the Clean Power Plan, given our our state’s vulnerability to the climate-related threats posed by sea level rise and flooding. What’s more, our state’s growing clean energy industry positions us well to meet the Clean Power Plan goals. The Clean Power Plan is the nation’s historic first step to reducing carbon emissions, a game-changer in protecting our environment and public health.
The McCrory administration’s opposition to the Clean Power Plan, led by former DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart, flew in the face of our state's longtime leadership in the Southeast for supporting clean energy policies.
We hope this signals the Cooper administration's intent to put North Carolina on a path to a clean energy future, regardless of the ultimate outcome of the federal lawsuit.
North Carolina was among two dozen states that joined a lawsuit in October 2015 to challenge the Clean Power Plan. The group, led by West Virginia's attorney general, claimed the EPA overreached its regulatory power over electricity production and consumption in states. The lawsuit said the EPA lacked the legal authority to enact the legislation under the Clean Air Act.