South Carolina has joined eleven other states in a lawsuit against the EPA, claiming that the department does not have the legal authority to enact proposed regulations that would mandate lower carbon-emissions levels from power plants.
The rule has sparked vehement opposition from coal-producing states, which contend that the regulations would devastate the coal industry, cause widespread unemployment, and raise energy prices. The state also says that the problem is a constitutional one: “Unelected bureaucrats,” South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson told local media, “are regulating through administrative fiat.”
South Carolina joins in the suit Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming.