Lignite Energy Council, NRECA File Petition for Review EPA’s MATS Regulations

WASHINGTON – The Lignite Energy Council and the National Rural Electric Cooperative (NRECA) filed a Petition for Review in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS). This petition is the initial step in filing litigation. The MATS rule, finalized at the end of April, will tighten the emission standards of mercury and non-mercury metals for existing lignite-fired power plants. Since 2010, mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants have been reduced by 90%and non-mercury metals by more than 81%. 

The lignite industry is a fundamental part of North Dakota’s economy, annually contributing more than $5.75 billion and 55% of North Dakota’s electricity generation in 2022. The EPA’s final MATS rule threatens to jeopardize the stability of the U.S. power grid and impose excessive costs on coal-fired power plants.

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, today applauded the legal action taken by the Lignite Energy Council and the NRECA.

“The Biden administration’s Mercury and Air Toxic Standards are onerous and costly, showing their real goal is to kill reliable, affordable coal,” said Cramer. “The American public is already paying drastically more for less dependable energy, and this regulation will accelerate grid unreliability across the country. North Dakota’s coal industry must be protected from the liberals who wish to regulate it out of existence. I commend the Lignite Energy Council and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association for taking legal action against this discriminatory rule.”

Coal plants have made significant capital investments to outfit their facilities with technologies to reduce pollutants. Under this stricter rule, the same coal plants will now have to comply with new, costly regulations, threatening the viability of lignite power plants.

Senator Cramer and U.S. Representative Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan last year, requesting the withdrawal or significant revision of the then-proposed regulation rule. In the letter, the members expressed concerns about the consequences MATS would have on North Dakota’s lignite coal fleet.