Kentucky Attorney General Takes EPA to Court Over Job-Killing Air Quality Rule

To block a devastating air quality rule from the EPA

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2024) – Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced today that the Attorney General’s Office argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to block a devastating air quality rule from the EPA that would raise costs on Kentucky manufacturers, utilities and families.

“The EPA’s outrageous rule ignores reality, and it’s a tangible threat to Kentucky’s future. Leveling these new restrictions will only drive good jobs and investment overseas, leaving American workers behind,” said Attorney General Coleman. “We took our argument to the Nation’s capital to protect Kentucky’s economic potential and the families who rely on it.”

General Coleman filed the lawsuit in March alongside West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and 22 other attorneys general.

The United States already had some of the strictest air quality standards in the world – tougher than the European Union and far more stringent than the world’s worst polluters, including China, India and Indonesia. Making the standards more stringent wouldn’t improve public health, but it would put as many as 30% of all U.S. counties out of compliance under federal law, leading to aggressive new permitting requirements that could effectively block new economic activity or job creation.

The new EPA rule could:

• Block the permitting of new manufacturing facilities and drive good-paying jobs out of Kentucky and overseas;
• Stop new infrastructure construction and leave Kentuckians on unsafe and congested roads and bridges; and
• Require small businesses, farmers, restaurants and even homeowners to pay for costly new equipment.

Kentucky’s low-cost energy is central to the Commonwealth’s competitive advantage in attracting business investment. The Biden Administration’s ongoing assault on fossil fuels through this rule, especially the coal industry and its workers, will make Kentucky less attractive for future growth.

In an op-ed published on FoxNews.com in March, General Coleman discussed his opposition to the rule. “The EPA’s new standard is the sharp edge of a radical green agenda that panders to activists and leaves the rest of us to pick up the pieces,” wrote Attorney General Coleman.  

Kentucky Assistant Solicitor General Jacob Abrahamson presented the Commonwealth’s case. Kentucky Solicitor General Matt Kuhn assisted in the matter.

Generals Coleman and Morrisey were joined by attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming.