Kilmartin, Coakley sign onto EPA motion

PROVIDENCE – Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and Massachusetts counterpart Martha C. Coakley have joined attorneys general from nine other states and two cities in a motion filed last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to support the federal government’s efforts to set greenhouse gas emissions standards for fossil-fuel power plants.
In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency settled a lawsuit filed by Rhode Island and other states over its refusal to regulate greenhouse gasses emitted by power plants. The settlement required the EPA to restrict the amount of greenhouse gasses that new and existing power plants could emit, but states from coal-producing regions have since filed a court challenge to that agreement.
The motion the coalition of attorneys general filed asks that they be allowed to intervene in support of the EPA in the challenge filed by states from coal-producing regions. Power plants fueled by coal, oil and natural gas are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions that pollute the air and damage the environment by contributing to climate change, they said. •