NEW ORLEANS (Legal Newsline) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has requested a stay that would prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from imposing new regional haze rules until after Paxton’s lawsuit gets a ruling in court.
In January, the EPA rejected Texas’ state plan for reducing haze and chose a federal plan instead. Texas believes the federal plan is expensive and unnecessary and could result in the Texas grid becoming less reliable.
“The EPA admits this plan would cost billions with no perceptible improvement in air quality,” Paxton said. “Much like its like-minded Clean Power Plan, this is a case of the EPA attempting to restructure the national electric grid without the authority to do so.”
The regional haze rule exists so that the general public can see clearly at U.S. National Parks in the state, including Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. According to Texas’ lawsuit, the federal plan would force power generators to install costly, unnecessary upgrades to become compliant.