Hughes Joins Lawsuit To Stop EPA Overreach

Mineola, TX - On Friday, State Representative Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) joined a coalition of energy producers in their legal challenge to the EPA's "Clean Power Plan."

Hughes joined co-counsel from Jackson Walker L.L.P. representing the Gulf Coast Lignite Coalition ("GCLC") in their Motion for Leave to Intervene in Support of Petitioners seeking judicial review of EPA's so-called "Clean Power Plan." Others in involved in the suit to stop the EPA rule include Texas and 26 other states. 

"I am proud to be joining a lawsuit on behalf of Texas lignite miners, power plant operators, and rate-payers challenging the EPA's latest attempt to centralize control over our energy resources in Washington DC," said Hughes. "This is one of the reasons that I became an attorney -- I get the opportunity to stand up for my fellow Texans against federal overreach."

GCLC is a non-profit corporation comprised of individual electric generating and mining companies, including several key employers and electricity providers in Northeast Texas. GCLC participates on behalf of its members collectively in proceedings brought under United States environmental regulations, and in litigation arising from those proceedings, which affect electric generators, mines, and the customers they serve.

Hughes and GCLC have long-advocated "all of the above" energy policies that allow states, like Texas, to ensure that its citizens and businesses have a reliable supply of electricity at an affordable price. The so-called "Clean Power Plan" fundamentally undermines this principle through a blatant attempt by the EPA to vastly expand its authority, ignore Congress, and strip states of their control over state electricity grids.

Ironically, the EPA claims that it is supporting "all" energy sources and giving states "flexibility." The fact is that they are imposing mandatory emission budgets on the states that pick winners and losers by functionally mandating an unprecedented build-out of wind, solar, and transmission lines while shutting down valuable power plants and stranding billions of dollars of investment, including in East Texas - all at the expense of power providers and their rate payers.

This rule does nothing to address "climate change," the issue that EPA claims as the basis for its rule. Using EPA's own numbers and methodologies, the calculated global climate benefit of this rule is almost unmeasurable. The rule is "All Pain, No Gain." 

"With this lawsuit, we have the opportunity to stop the Obama administration's scheme to bypass Congress and the states through illegal regulations implemented by unelected bureaucrats," continued Hughes. "We are confident the state of Texas and GCLC will be successful because the rule of law matters in this country and the right of Texas to control its own electric grid without illegal federal coercion will be preserved by the courts."

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