State Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, introduced a bill this week to fight President Obama’s climate change plans, adding a legislative thrust to an already filed legal challenge.
SB 311 would include Georgia in a so-called Interstate Power Compact to thwart guidelines issued last summer by the Environmental Protection Agency requiring states to dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It would also require states to submit to Washington “carbon reduction plans based on achievable outcomes within existing power plants,” according to Sen. Bethel’s press release.
If passed in Georgia, the compact would only go into effect if at least two states join. So far, none have.
“The new carbon emission regulations announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will increase costs and slow the efficiency of state and regional electric market operations,” said Sen. Bethel who chairs the Senate Committee on Insurance and Labor.
Georgia joined two dozen other states last November in a lawsuit blocking the EPA’s new standards. Georgia had previously sued, along with other mostly Republican states, to halt Obama’s Clean Power Plan which mandates steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the White House plan, Georgia must reduce emissions, most caused by coal-burning power plants, by one-fourth by 2030. State environmental officials are researching ways to comply with the proposal.
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