Nearly half of the states are calling on President-elect Donald Trump to use his executive branch powers to take back a key piece of climate change legislation presented by President Barack Obama.
According to The Hill, officials in 24 red states sent Trump a proposal that would erase the Clean Power Plan before the EPA is able to begin enforcing it. The legislation is currently held up in the court system.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, is leading the charge.
"The Clean Power Plan is an unlawful attempt to force states to fundamentally alter electricity generation in their states by shifting from existing fossil-fueled power plants to other methods of generation preferred by EPA," the officials wrote, reports The Hill.
"The incoming administration and Congress now have the opportunity to withdraw this unlawful rule and prevent adoption of a similar rule in the future."
The Clean Power Plan would force power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent within 25 years. Trump would have to make an executive order to stop it from being enforced, The Hill Notes.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, who has been critical of the Clean Power Plan, will reportedly be nominated by Trump to lead the EPA in his administration.
A Washington Post analysis this week claimed Pruitt would be the most conservative EPA administrator in 35 years.
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