LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Legal Newsline) – Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge presented comments to the Environmental Protection Agency about its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) supplemental findings on cost.
“The EPA should withdraw this supplemental finding and perform a complete analysis of the costs utility consumers will have to bear,” Rutledge said. “Last summer, in Michigan v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the EPA could not ignore costs when imposing MATS regulations. The agency’s supplemental findings, which are an attempt to sidestep the court’s regulation, will affect electric utility ratepayers.”
Rutledge also supported comments from the state of Michigan to the EPA.
“To weigh the rule’s benefits and costs, the EPA must compare and balance them, not simply identify them,” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wrote. “The EPA must revise its analysis to weigh the benefits and costs and assess whether there are any positive net benefits. Then, based on that revised evaluation the agency must determine whether regulation is ‘appropriate.’”