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Paxton Sues Biden Administration to Prevent it from Blocking?Texas?s Management of its Own Environment?
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AUSTIN ??Attorney General Paxton has filed a petition for review challenging an order by President Biden?s Environmental Protection Agency (?EPA?) that disapproves Texas?s state implementation plan (?SIP?), which was developed in coordination with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (?TCEQ?) to ensure that Texas complied with federal air quality standards.??
Under the Clean Air Act and national ambient air quality standards, states must take measures to prevent significant amounts of emissions from affecting downwind states. To implement this ?good neighbor? requirement of the Clean Air Act, states put forward SIPs for federal approval.??
After the EPA?s recent disapproval of Texas?s SIP, Attorney General Paxton filed the petition for review in the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to defend the state plan. The refusal to accept Texas?s SIP opens the door for Biden?s EPA to force onto the people of Texas a federal implementation plan (?FIP?), crafted by environmental extremists in Washington.??
?The EPA had no good reason to reject Texas?s state implementation plan beyond simply wanting to exert more federal control,? said Attorney General Paxton. ?The anticipated federal implementation plan would do immeasurable harm to our state sovereignty and to numerous industries across Texas that would be burdened by new, onerous federal regulations. The state-level plan put forth by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality meets federal air quality standards, and the EPA?s hyper-politicized decision to reject our plan must be reversed.??
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To read the full petition for review, click here.??
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