Warner, Kaine join amicus brief backing Obama Clean Power Plan

U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine joined a bipartisan group of 42 current and former Senators and 164 current and former House members from 38 states as well as the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands in filing an amicus brief in support of the Obama administration’s historic Clean Power Plan.

The CPP will reduce carbon pollution and address climate change, save consumers $155 billion by 2030, create jobs, and prevent 90,000 childhood asthma attacks through 2030‎. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is considering a challenge to the rule in West Virginia et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency. The full text of the amicus brief filed today can be found here and a full list of the 208 current and former members of Congress that signed can be found below.

The amicus brief argues that the Clean Power Plan rule is consistent with the text, structure, and legislative history of the Clean Air Act (CAA).  Further, it argues that the rule is consistent with the goal of the CAA to “protect the Nation’s air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population.” Indeed, according to the brief, the Supreme Court has already affirmed that the EPA has clear authority to combat carbon pollution and regulate greenhouse gasses under Massachusetts v. EPA and American Electric Power v. Connecticut.

While many Republicans continue to refuse to acknowledge the existence of climate change, a bipartisan group of current and former members of Congress as well as a broad coalition that includes legal experts, environmental groups, states and cities, and businesses including energy companies recognize the necessity and legality of the CPP, which will protect public health, and grow the clean energy economy of the future. A failure to act on climate change will also lead to more frequent extreme weather – from more severe droughts and wildfires in the west, to rising sea levels and more powerful hurricanes along our coastlines.