AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a case about the state’s regional haze issues.
The EPA rejected Texas’ proposed revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP) for reducing haze, instead opting to pursue a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP).
Paxton believes the federal plan is too expensive, would put undue burdens on electricity producers and would cause the Texas grid to become less reliable.
“Texas already has a plan that meets the standards of the Clean Air Act, however, once again, the Obama Administration is misinterpreting and misusing federal agencies to force through a radical agenda based more on the beliefs of his environmentalist base than on common sense,” Paxton said. “The steps Washington is demanding we take are extraordinarily expensive, will result in a less-reliable electric grid and ultimately have no significant effect on visibility in Texas.”
The regional haze issue deals with visibility at places like Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks.
Paxton filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court.