CEI Applauds Court’s Decision to Stay EPA’s Regional Haze Takeover in Texas
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit stayed the EPA’s Regional Haze federal plan for Texas on Friday. Competitive Enterprise Institute's Senior Fellow William Yeatman responded to the court's decision today.
“The Court’s decision to stay implementation of the rule while it undergoes judicial review is a big win for common sense. EPA’s absurd plan would cost $2 billion and threatens electric reliability in Texas, in order to achieve an ‘improvement’ in visibility that is literally invisible. Without the stay, the EPA could have gotten its way, regardless of whether or not the court ultimately found the Regional Haze rule to be unlawful, due to the fact that capital-intensive businesses like utilities have to plan on multi-year horizons. Therefore, absent the court’s action on Friday, Texas utilities would have had to commit billions of dollars in unnecessary investments before the legal challenge ran its course. Thanks to the court’s wise decision Friday, EPA’s regulation will have to survive judicial review before it can go into effect. This is a welcome result for Texas, which will now have the opportunity to turn back this ridiculous regulation without first having to endure it.”
For more on the Texas Regional Haze rule, read William Yeatman’s testimony on the topic