LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Legal Newsline) — Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is leading a coalition of eight attorneys general in pleading with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider the effects and costs of its proposed changes to regional haze rules.
The attorneys general involved believe the proposed changes do not mesh with the existing text in the Clean Air Act. They allege the amendments would increase costs on Arkansas utilities and ultimately ratepayers, as well as in other states. The letter says that, if adopted, the proposed amendments would divest the states of their long-established role in determining regional haze rules.
“The EPA is proposing improper changes to the rules to wrest control from states like Arkansas that approach regional haze in a balanced way,” Rutledge said. “These proposed changes are part of an attempt to force the EPA’s political agenda on many states and ignore what is in the best interest of a particular state. The EPA should fully consider the effects of these rule changes before thinking about proceeding with implementation.”
Rutledge is joined in the effort by the attorneys general of Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Carolina.