IBEW on the Supreme Court’s Blocking of EPA Carbon Regulations

February 10, 2016

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Lonnie R. Stephenson issued the following statement regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to halt the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations on carbon emissions:

“The Supreme Court made the right decision in freezing the implementation of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.   We have said from the beginning that the agency shouldn’t be involved in formulating energy policy, but that is exactly what it’s been doing under these hastily thought out regulations on power plants and carbon emissions.

“The problem of human-made climate change is real, but these rules would have unnecessarily disrupted our power grid and cost thousands of good jobs – two things our economy can’t afford. All while having a minimal impact on global carbon emissions, while putting the reliability of our electrical supply at great risk.  

“That is why we joined with 27 states, several utilities and two other labor unions in challenging the regulations.

“The job of formulating energy policy belongs to Congress and Congress alone. As a nation, we desperately need leaders from both parties to step up to the plate and craft a balanced but comprehensive plan to combat global warming, increase the production of non-carbon emitting power sources like wind, solar and nuclear and increase grid reliability. 

“As a union representing more than 700,000 energy professionals across North America, we stand ready to work with elected officials, industry leaders and regulatory agencies to make it happen.”