Illinois and New York AGs Testified at EPA Hearing on Clean Power Plan Replacement

OCTOBER 1, 2018

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan testified at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) only hearing on its proposal to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. In her testimony, AG Madigan objected to weakening restrictions on carbon emissions from the coal industry, at noted that the administration’s proposed rollback would damage vulnerable ecosystems in Lake Michigan and harm Illinois’ agricultural sector by increasing incidents of extreme precipitation and raising the number of extreme droughts and floods. AG Madigan also noted that the proposed rule is neither affordable nor clean, pointing to the EPA’s own analysis that the new rule would lead to as many as 1,400 preventable deaths and 48,000 new cases of exacerbated asthma. A representative of New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood also testified at the EPA hearing, joining AG Madigan in criticizing the proposed rule’s increase in preventable deaths and failure to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions.