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Texas Attorney General Paxton Files Suit Against Gov't EPA Power Plan

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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Texas has joined 23 other states in a lawsuit challenging the Obama Administration's plan to restructure the way electricity is produced and consumed.

Texas and West Virginia are leading the suit requesting a stay on the plan. According to the Texas Tribune, the regulation, known as the Clean Power Plan, requires states to cut carbon emissions by shifting from coal power to natural gas and renewables over the next 15 years.

Paxton has warned that the Clean Power Plan would dramatically inflate the cost of electricity for consumers and imperil the state's power grid, describing the regulation as a federal "power grab."

Experts say the coalition will argue that the EPA cannot force the states to regulate where the EPA doesn't have authority to regulate itself.

On Friday, Governor Greg Abbot issued a statment praising the challenge to the new regulation.

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