Dive Brief:

• The District of Columbia and 14 states have filed an amicus brief backing the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to regulate power plant emissions, saying they have a keen interest in reducing pollution, the Hill reports
• The brief opposes a lawsuit filed by coal producer Murray Energy, which seeks to overturn the proposed rule. Murray's lawsuit, filed in June, was joined by nine states.
• Heat-related deaths, coastal damage and severe weather are chief among the states' concerns, the states told the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dive Insight:

States are taking sides in the EPA's bid to regulate power plant emissions. Over the summer a lawsuit filed by Murray Energy called standards proposed by the Obama Administration  "illegal, irrational, and radical." That lawsuit was joined by nine states: West Virginia, Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming.

Now, 14 states and the District Columbia have come to support the EPA's plan. The Hill reports New York, California, Delaware, New Mexico, Oregon, and Rhode Island, among others, say they “support the EPA’s authority to complete its ongoing rule making to limit carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fueled power plants, the largest source of those emissions.”

Their concerns include  “increased heat-related deaths, damaged coastal areas, and more severe weather events."

Several environmental groups have also asked the court for permission to file a brief of their own, defending the proposed rules. Those groups include the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Environmental Defense Council.