The reaction was quick and predictable. Murray Energy immediately filed a lawsuit against the administration and the EPA and said it would prevail. Peabody Energy urged further action by the courts, Congress, states, consumer groups and industrial/residential electricity customers to turn back the rules. Unprecedented early opposition to the rules has been advanced from members of Congress, governors, legislatures, attorneys general, and business and consumer groups.
“President Obama on the 2008 campaign trail promised that under his administration electricity rates would ‘necessarily skyrocket’ and he would drive the providers of our most affordable power source — coal producers — out of business. These new restrictions will accomplish exactly that. Conveniently for President Obama, the economy-destroying impacts of his new restrictions will kick in only after he leaves office and when he will not have to answer for the economic punishment that will inevitably occur,” said James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environmental policy for The Heartland Institute.
