Lankford says President’s Re-interpretation of Old Law Demands Supreme Court Ruling

One member of Congress who supports the U.S. Supreme Court challenge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan is U.S. Senator James Lankford.

“When I look at the Clean Power Plan, this is the administration looking back at a 40-year old law and re-interpreting it in a way no other president or no other administration has ever interpreted that law,” said Lankford in a recent interview with OK Energy Today. “That to me demands that it go to the court.”

The challenge was filed recently by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and other attorneys general after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the plan. The original lawsuit was filed in October of 2015.

“When I see novel new interpretation from this president,” continued Sen. Lankford, “it begs the question why has no one else for 40 years seen this law this way. I would say to the court, it’s time for them to bring clarity to this and say you cannot interpret law anyway you want to interpret the law.”

While Sen. Lankford sounds optimistic about how the Court might rule, he’s also admittedly realistic, knowing cases he’s supported in the past resulted in rulings against him.

“If the court upholds the plan, then we’ll be in the same fight that we’ve been in for the past several years,” suggested the Senator. “Congress works to be able to pass something. The President blocks it and so we will have a change in leadership in 11 mnths and we will take full advantage of that.”


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