Utah files federal lawsuit over ‘egregious power grab’ on ozone rule

The Utah Attorney General filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently released ozone interstate transport rule, asserting it is unlawful federal overreach designed to kill Utah’s remaining coal-fired power plants.

The state’s top GOP elected leaders — Gov. Spencer Cox, Attorney General Sean Reyes, Senate President J. Stuart Adams, House Speaker Brad Wilson, U.S. Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney, and Reps. Chris Stewart, John Curtis, Burgess Owens and Blake Moore — issued a statement on the lawsuit.

“Utah’s measured, all-of-the-above energy policy has powered decades of prosperity by providing some of the country’s most reliable and affordable energy. This balanced and commonsense approach has powered our state, fueled our economy, and maintained a high quality of life for Utahns,” the statement read. “We have also dramatically decreased emissions and ozone on our own. However, the Biden administration has turned to executive rulemaking to enact policies that will force early closures of Utah power plants, putting reliable, affordable, and dispatchable power significantly at risk — and only in a few years.”

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The EPA finalized the “Good Neighbor Plan” in March and during this last legislative session, lawmakers endorsed a $2 million expenditure to fight it in court.

Blaming much of Colorado’s air pollution woes on downstream emissions from Utah, the EPA said oil and gas activity in eastern Utah and power plants in Emery County were sending ozone to its eastern neighbor.

At the time the rule was issued, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups praised the action and said it would bring Utah in check.

The groups said the rule addressed dangerous smog pollution using a combination of approaches proven to limit a key ingredient in smog: ozone season emissions of nitrogen oxides.

Rocky Mountain Power’s coal-fired Hunter and Huntington plants are two of the worst sources of regional haze pollution in the West, the Sierra Club contended.

Utah’s GOP leaders are asking the D.C. Court of Appeals to review the rule, asserting it threatens the state’s ability to provide affordable and reliable baseload energy.

“As Utah’s elected state leaders, we stand united in pushing back against the administration’s egregious power grab that harms Utahns. We will each fight for a responsible energy policy that embraces efficiency and is based in reality because keeping the lights on is the only option.”