WASHINGTON, D.C. – District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine joined with a coalition of 25 states, counties, and cities, to file comments opposing the Trump Administration’s Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Advance Notice”) on a “potential” replacement to the Clean Power Plan.

The coalition argues that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is advancing a narrow view of its own authority under the Clean Air Act that is contrary to the law and common sense. The comment letter (available here) also cites a recent study which found that the replacement rule envisioned in the Advance Notice would not only reduce emissions less than the Clean Power Plan, but could actually result in greater air pollution harms than no rule at all.

The coalition of states, counties, and cities submitting the comments was led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and includes the District of Columbia, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota (by and through its Minnesota Pollution Control Agency), New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington state, and the cities of Boulder (CO), Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and South Miami (FL), and the county of Broward (FL).

This is not the first time that Attorney General Racine has joined with other states and localities to defend the Clean Power Plan. He joined with a coalition that sought to intervene and defend the Clean Power Plan from a legal challenge in 2016, and spoke out against President Trump’s March 2017 executive order, which was described as laying the groundwork to eliminating the Clean Power Plan. He also joined with others to urge the retraction of “legally incorrect” guidance from EPA to states regarding Clean Power Plan implementation and deadlines, and to urge the recusal of EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt from the Clean Power Plan repeal decision.