McConnell: ‘Battle continues’ against power plant regs

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has vowed to continue his fight against the Obama administration and environmental regulators over their new climate rule for power plants. 

In a newsletter to constituents released Monday, McConnell said he will work to block the administration’s Clean Power Plan rules legislatively this fall, pledging to protect his home state’s coal industry in the face of regulations set to hit it especially hard.

{mosads}McConnell said the rule is the “latest attack on Kentucky coal jobs, miners and their families,” and one that he’s looking to block in the Senate.

“This move demands and deserves a forceful response from those of us who seek to protect Kentucky coal,” he wrote. 

McConnell repeated the potential legislative plan of attack he laid out when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the rule in early August. That includes using the appropriations process to block the rule, or a measure of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act. 

He also repeated his call for state governors to refuse compliance with the rule, questioning whether it will survive legal challenges. 

“The battle continues,” McConnell wrote. “I’ve fought this administration and its EPA every step of the way in the president’s war on coal, and I don’t intend to stop now.”

Since the EPA released the Clean Power Plan on Aug. 3, several states have sued seeking a stay. A Senate panel also passed a bill to block the regulations, giving McConnell another option to use against them.  

“I’ll keep up the fight against this administration and this EPA through the many tools at Congress’s disposal to rein in out-of-control bureaucrats,” he said in his newsletter. 

“My promise is this: I will not sit idly by while this administration tries to wipe out the lifeblood of our state’s economy.”