Arkansas has joined a lawsuit filed by a dozen states against the EPA’s proposal to force existing power plants to cut their carbon emissions.

A court approved Arkansas’ request to join the suit, which has been filed by Alabama, Alaska, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

“I will seek to protect Arkansans against an overreaching federal government that is attempting to implement heavy-handed regulations that go beyond the scope of the law … (and) seek to impose a national energy policy that will harm Arkansas’s economy,” Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said in a statement on Monday.

President Obama, wielding the country’s Clean Air Act, has ordered the EPA to set rules that would lead to a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions below 2005 levels by 2030.

Under the proposed regulations, Arkansas would have to reduce its own emissions by around 45 percent due to its reliance on coal-fired power plants, giving it the sixth most stringent target of the 50 states.

Arkansas’ energy companies have predicted that the state will need to shutter some of its five coal plants to comply.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com