Moran, other Senators request 60-day extension for public comments on new EPA rules

News Release:

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- Today, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined a bipartisan group of 53 senators, including Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), in calling on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy to provide a 60-day extension for the public comment period on EPA’s proposed rule to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants.

Because the proposal is incredibly complex and broad in scope and would impact electric generation use and costs throughout the country, the senators believe an additional 60 days is needed to provide more time for all stakeholders to fully review the proposed rule and offer comments.

In May, Sen. Moran and a bipartisan group of senators requested the EPA grant at least 120 days for public comment on its new proposal on existing power plants. While the 120-day public comment period was granted, the senators heard from utility companies, state regulators, regional generation and transmission organizations.

These organizations made it known that the rule is more difficult to analyze and assess than they had initially expected. Additionally, some of the issues posed by the new rule require discussions and collaboration with a variety of state, regional and national officials to provide accurate and complete comments on the feasibility of the rule and options.

The level of complexity of the proposal, volume of technical documents released, amount of coordination required, and magnitude of energy impacts of the rule warrant a 60-day extension of the public comment period.

The senators write, “This extension is critical to ensure that state regulatory agencies and other stakeholders have adequate time to fully analyze and comment on the proposal. It is also important to note that the challenge is not only one of commenting on the complexity and sweeping scope of the rule, but also providing an opportunity to digest more than 600 supporting documents released by EPA in support of this proposal.”