Senator James Lankford (R-OK) joined Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) to lead 46 senators and 44 House members on an amicus curiae brief filed in the US Supreme Court in support of the petitioners in the pending case West Virginia, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency.
“Presidents cannot invent a law or change the law to fit their preferences; they can only follow the law. The law does not give Biden the authority to coerce state utility companies to forcibly change their electric energy sources to meet his progressive climate-change agenda,” said Lankford. “After last year, Oklahomans know very well we need reliable and diverse energy sources to keep our lights on and our homes heated. Biden’s unrealistic push to cancel traditional energy in favor of only renewables puts the dependability of our system at risk. Oklahoma continues to fight back against Biden’s all-out assault on oil and natural gas, and we will continue to push for a diverse, all-of-the-above energy portfolio. We have done that for years without Biden trying to tell us what to do.”
The members agree that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted outside its congressionally authorized authority by issuing significantly overreaching rules—namely the Clean Power Plan—to attempt to transform the nation’s power sector through emissions regulations under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act.
“If Congress had intended to give the EPA such sweeping authority to transform an entire sector of our economy, Congress would have done so explicitly,” the members said in the brief. “An administrative agency like the EPA may decide issues of such vast economic and political significance only when the agency can point to ‘clear congressional authorization.’ Decisions regarding greenhouse gas emissions and the power sector are major policy questions with vast economic and political significance. Only elected members of Congress, representing the will of the people, may decide these questions. The EPA’s attempt to issue expansive regulations cannot stand in the absence of clear congressional authorization.”
Senators joining Lankford and Capito in the brief include Senators Rob Portman (R-OH), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Boozman (R-AR), Jim Risch (R-ID), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Barrasso (R-WY), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Tom Tillis (R-NC), John Thune (R-SD), Richard Burr (R-NC), John Kennedy (R-LA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Cornyn (R-TX), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Tim Scott (R-SC), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Hoeven (R-ND), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mike Braun (R-IN), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Steve Daines (R-MT), Todd Young (R-IN), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Rand Paul (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Rick Scott (R-FL).
