Colorado AG fires back at governor: ‘Public duty’ to sue over EPA rules

The Republican attorney general of Colorado says she has the power to sue over federal environmental rules despite claims to the contrary from her state’s governor.

In a Friday court filing, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman said her office has the right and responsibility to file lawsuits on the state’s behalf, even though Gov. John Hickenlooper supports the new Environmental Protection Agency rules on power plant emissions, hydraulic fracturing and water pollution.

{mosads}”Even when the governor and the attorney general split along party lines, the attorney general has not only the authority but also the public duty to seek judicial review to protect the legal interests of Colorado and its people,” Coffman said in a statement. 

Over the past several months, Coffman has joined other conservative attorneys general in suing the EPA.

After Coffman joined a lawsuit challenging the power plant regulations last month, Hickenlooper asked the state Supreme Court to determine whether Coffman could do so without his approval. 

“The attorney general has filed an unprecedented number of lawsuits without support of or collaboration with her clients,” Jacki Cooper Melmed, chief legal counsel to the governor, said earlier this month. 

But on Friday, Coffman’s office said the governor’s approval doesn’t matter in determining which lawsuits she can pursue. 

“In General Coffman’s independent judgment, Colorado’s legal interests are served by ensuring that the federal executive branch, when it seeks to displace state regulatory authority, is acting within the bounds of the law,” her office said in a statement.