Dive Brief:
- U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell questioned the head of the Environmental Protection Agency this week, adamant that the administration's Clean Power Plan will hurt Kentucky's economy, cost jobs and raise power rates.
- McConnell, a vocal opponent of what he calls a "war on coal," also told EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy that Kentucky would not be submitting a compliance plan or assisting with the federal mandates.
- McCarthy responded that the administration's plan to cut carbon emissions has already taken into account the energy mixes in different states, and that the agency would happily work with Kentucky on what needed to be done.
Dive Insight:
Sen. McConnell (R-KY) took advantage of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing this week to grill McConnell on the administration's carbon plan, saying it will cost jobs and the state will not be a party to the mandates.
"Your agency’s proposed budget request, if approved, would facilitate the EPA’s plan to shutter coal plants in my state and put countless more of my constituents out of work — all at the service of a regulatory agenda," McConnell said.
And while current Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, has been working with the Obama administration on carbon compliance, McConnell said the next governor likely would not. Beshear will leave office in December, and McConnell said no major candidate has said they would assist the EPA.
"The current governor, who’s working with you will be gone," McConnell said. "He says he can’t finish it by December and none, the Democrat and multiple Republican candidates, none of them are going to submit a plan. So my question is, how in the world do you intend to force my state to comply with a federal plan?”
According to The Hill, McCarthy replied that the agency "designed this plan in a way that we are respecting the current situation in states and their energy mixes, designing our standards to accommodate the reasonable benefits in terms of reducing carbon pollution, and what those states can do."
McCarthy also said the rules are flexible, and that the agency welcomes the chance to work with whoever the next governor of Kentucky is.