While state attorneys general from Ohio and West Virginia continue their legal challenge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Clean Power Plan (CPP), “officials in both states are making moves to comply with the mandate of reducing their CO2 emissions from power plants by 37 percent,” the Herald-Star reports. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said the plan “hits Ohio hard” and will “dramatically increase Ohioans’ electric rates while at the same time offering less reliable service and few tangible environmental benefits,” according to the article. However, a study by the West Virginia University College of Law’s Center for Energy and Sustainable Development determined the CPP will have “minimal impact on coal mining activity within the state.” The EPA says the CPP’s reduction in carbon dioxide pollution will “prevent at least 3,600 premature deaths, prevent 90,000 asthma attacks per year and create up to $45 billion worth of climate and health benefits per year.”
Ohio and West Virginia creating plans to comply with Clean Power Plan despite lawsuit
