Hammering Away At Obama-Era Regs, AG Asks EPA To Ax Environmental Safeguards

AUSTIN — Texas continues to take a lead role in helping to eradicate vestiges of the Obama era of government, most recently on Friday when the attorney general contacted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to suspend certain environmental measures.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office sent a letter to the EPA last week urging the agency to suspend, review and reconsider Obama-era EPA regulations that Texas challenged in a dozen lawsuits that are still pending against the federal agency. The letter was sent Monday in response to a request for comments from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

The letter, which includes 110 pages of supporting documents, states that Texas took legal action against EPA rules and regulations that are, according to Paxton, "...unlawful, arbitrary and capricious, unnecessary or ineffective, and impose costs exceeding benefits."

One example cited in the letter is the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which Paxton said would have the net effect of raising electricity costs while weakening the nation’s power grid. Attorney General Paxton co-led a 24-state lawsuit to stop the rule, which is now under review by the EPA. The letter also mentions the attorney general’s lawsuit against an EPA rule on carbon and methane that would harm oil and gas production in Texas and across the nation.

A series of executive orders by Donald Trump effectively suspended litigation in many of these matters, but it continues in others, Paxton noted. Still-active litigation on other fronts cause Texas to "...continue to incur legal expenses and costs to challenge regulations," Paxton wrote.

Paxton claims the previous administration "...was unwilling to engage with most states, and took actions or issued rules ignoring the spirit of cooperative federalism embodied in the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act,” in his letter to the agency. The letter from the attorney general’s office asks the EPA administrator to restore "...greater cooperation between the federal government and states in environmental regulation."

To view a copy of the letter, click here.

>>> Official Ken Paxton photo via State of Texas