North Dakota is going to court to stop the EPA from implementing its new Clean Power plan.
24 other states have filed a joint action against the plan – which is designed to cut carbon emissions. But Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says North Dakota decided to file its own, separate legal action.
"The initial rule provided North Dakota's carbon reduction requirement would be 11 percent," said Stenehjem. "We thought that was something that was stringent, but something we could accomplish."
But when the final rules were promulgated, the state's reduction target became 45 percent.
"That is something most analysts, and those who are out in the field actually producing power, say is an impossible task," said Stenehjem.
Stenehjem says that underlines the Obama Administrations approach to environmental issues.
"They (the EPA) are so eager to get moving with accomplishing whatever goals they have in mind, they cut corners, they violate the law, and they ignore the proper process," said Stenehjem.
Stenehjem says EPA violated the federal Administrative Practices Act when it more than quadrupled North Dakota's carbon reduction target after the state already commented on the initial 11 percent plan.
"This rule will have the likely effect of requiring the closure of one or more of our existing power plants," said Stenehjem. "This in a state and a nation that has an increasing demand for energy production and consumption -- not a decreasing one."
