Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
4/17/2015
A group of Democratic senators have begun to push back against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) effort to convince state officials to oppose the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emissions standards for coal-fired power plants, issuing a letter to governors this week urging them to support the proposal. McConnell has argued that states should not develop implementation plans for the EPA’s proposed regulations on the basis that the proposal will be defeated in court. In their letter, though, the Democratic senators noted that several organizations, state agencies and other groups within the Majority Leader’s home state disagree with his fight against the proposed regulation. “You might want to consider what other Kentucky voices say about climate change,” the letter states. “Kentucky is already crafting its plan for complying with the Clean Power Plan. The Commonwealth of Kentucky’s decision to work with the EPA and prepare a plan was based, according to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, on what ‘the overwhelming majority of our stakeholders are telling us.’”
The letter was signed by Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), as well as Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.). The senators also noted statements in support of taking action on climate change from The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources’, Columbia Gas of Kentucky, Kentucky Woodlands Magazine, University of Kentucky, Kentucky State University, Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Louisville. “Before you take advice about climate change from Senator McConnell please consider first what so many knowledgeable voices from the Bluegrass State are saying about climate change, and second, how failing to act gives up your state’s right to set its own course of action toward a clean energy future. His is not the voice from ahead saying the trail is not safe; his is the voice obstinately staying behind saying, ‘Let’s not even try,’” the letter says.
