Indiana and 14 other states are filing a lawsuit to challenge the limits that President Obama announced today on carbon dioxide emissions.
The rules would implement the nation's first cap on carbon emissions. They set a goal of a 32 percent reduction nationwide by 2030, as well as individual state goals.
Indiana's attorney general called the Environmental Protection Agency's requirements "an overreach of historic proportions."
"This regulation of electrical power generation goes far beyond what Congress authorized the agency to do," Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement.
Under the new rules, states are allowed to decide how they cut carbon emissions as long as they meet one of two federally-established goals--either a reduction in total carbon emissions or the amount of carbon emissions producer per megawatt hour of electricity.
Indiana is being required to cut total carbon emissions 28 percent over the next fifteen years or its carbon emissions per megawatt hour by 38 percent in the same time period.
The goals are more stringent than the EPA original proposal last year, which would have required Indiana to reduce its carbon emissions 20 percent by 2030.
In a statement today, Gov. Mike Pence said his administration would review the plan. He also reiterated a stance he took earlier this year that if he finds it is not "significantly improved" from the original proposal, Indiana will not comply.
"When it comes to energy policy, [the Obama] Administration continues to place its environmental agenda ahead of the interests of Hoosier ratepayers, jobs and the economy," the governor said. "Here in Indiana, homeowners and businesses rely on coal-burning power plants for low-cost, reliable energy. Yet little to no consideration was given to states like ours throughout the development of the EPA's final rule and that is simply not acceptable."
The National Federation of Independent Businesses' state director Barbara Quandt also called the rules "a deadly combination for the small business sector." She said the new rules will increase the cost of electricity, increasing small businesses' operating expenses and creating a "a recipe for fewer jobs and slower growth."
Indiana is in the top ten coal producing states in the nation, and those against the proposal argue the EPA did take the state's longstanding history with coal into enough consideration.
"They are attempting to impact one energy source much more than any other, and as a result are trying to do away with the most affordable and reliable source of energy that the state of Indiana has," says Bruce Stevens, president of the Indiana Coal Council.
Environmental groups in Indiana, though, are hailing the carbon rules as a victory, saying they will combat climate change and improve people's health.
"Cleaning up the air that children breathe, and sustaining the earth's health for our descendants, are this generation's version of the social ethics we have been learning and living for centuries," said Rev. Patricia Tull, the program director for Hoosier Interfaith Power & Light.
Environmentalists are also urging the state to get on board with the EPA plan.
"We need to write a plan in Indiana," Jodi Perras, the Sierra Club representative for Indiana, says. "It's important we do that in the state so the plan isn't being written for us in Washington or the EPA offices in Chicago."
Utility companies are hoping the process of writing that plan can be delayed, at least while the lawsuit plays out in court.
"Ultimately if the rule is determined to be legal, if the rule is determined to be something that makes sense, we're going to have to deal with that outcome," says Mark Maasel, the president of the Indiana Energy Association, which represents some of the largest utility companies in the state. "But I also think that Indiana customers should not be asked to pay for something that down the road, the courts may decide was not done legally."
The lawsuit could take years, although a court could also postpone the EPA's rule from going into effect until the case is decided.
