Greg Abbott vows to fight Obama's latest 'job-killing' EPA regulations

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Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott plans to challenge the latest regulations on coal plant emissions.

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Nicholas Sakelaris

Staff Writer- Dallas Business Journal

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Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott wasted no time reacting to President Barack Obama’s new regulations on coal-fired power plants, saying he will fight the Environmental Protection Agency in court, again, if he has to.

“I have consistently fought against overreaching federal government policies—including President Obama’s job-killing EPA regulations—all the way to the Supreme Court,” said Abbott, who is the Republican nominee for governor of Texas. “Yet the Obama administration is doubling down on their job-killing agenda with this latest proposal.”

Obama took unprecedented action Monday to cut carbon emissions from power plants by 30 percent by 2030. The EPA says pollution from coal plants is the biggest contributor to global warming and climate change.

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Abbott, who will square off against Democrat Wendy Davis on Nov. 4, vows to fight to protect the energy industry that he said is critical to the state’s economy. Texas is the top consumer of coal and produced 37 percent of the power in the state in 2013. Some analysts say the regulations could force power producers to mothball coal plants or make costly upgrades that would ultimately lead to higher electric bills.

In a blog post on his campaign website, Abbott says Obama bypassed the legislative process with the executive order.

“I call on all those who profess to have Texas’ best interests at heart to join me in this fight,” Abbott said.

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Nicholas covers the energy, manufacturing, aviation and transportation beats for the Dallas Business Journal. Subscribe the Energy Inc. newsletter