Senator Lamar Alexander joined 33 other senators and 171 congressmen Tuesday in an effort to overturn President Obama’s Clean Power Plan by filing an amicus brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The filing, also called a friend of the court brief, is related to a case filed by West Virginia and nearly two dozen other states arguing that the Environmental Protection Agency exceeded its authority when regulating existing power plants under the Clean Power Plan. Republican leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen.
James Inhofe (R-Ok.) also signed the brief.
“My principal objection is the Obama administration’s so-called Clean Power Plan ignores nuclear power – the most important source of clean power,” Senator Alexander said. “Favoring unreliable sources of electricity such as wind over nuclear is the energy equivalent of going to war in sailboats when a nuclear Navy is available. Both wind and nuclear produce carbon-free electricity, but nuclear power is reliable, while the wind only blows about a third of the time. We should end Washington’s obsession with picking winners and losers through wasteful taxpayer subsidies for mature energy technologies such as wind. Instead we should double funding for basic energy research and rely on our free-enterprise system."
In August 2015, the EPA announced final regulations, known as the Clean Power Plan, to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants by 32 percent nationwide by 2030. Over half of the States, electrical utilities, mining companies, and trade organizations have challenged the legality of the regulations. And in February, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked implementation of the Clean Power Plan until legal challenges have been resolved.
Senator Alexander, who is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, also cosponsored a Congressional Review Act resolution in November that expressed Congress’ disapproval of the Clean Power Plan. The resolution passed the Senate and the House of Representatives, but was vetoed by President Obama.
Senator Alexander also cosponsored the Affordable Reliable Electricity Now Act, which would delay implementation of the Clean Power Plan until legal challenges have been resolved.
An amicus brief is a court filing made by a person or group not specifically involved in a case that involves matters of broad public interest.