Amicus Brief for Grid Experts in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
On April 23, 2020, Emmett Institute faculty members Cara Horowitz, William Boyd, Ann Carlson, and Charles Corbett submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the case challenging the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule and the repeal of the Clean Power Plan.
The brief was submitted on behalf of U.S. electricity grid experts Benjamin F. Hobbs, Brendan Kirby, Kenneth J. Lutz, and James D. McCalley. It describes the workings of the electricity grid and lessons from the history of pollution control measures aimed at reducing emissions from power plants. The brief argues that EPA’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan and its replacement ACE Rule are unlawful because EPA failed to take account of the central characteristic of the U.S. power grid: its operation as an integrated machine. As a result, EPA’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan rests on an unreasonable and unsound basis, and the ACE Rule fails to adopt the “best system” of emission reduction, as required, one that reflects what experts know to be the cheapest, most effective method of reducing emissions.