When the federal government released their harmful new energy regulation – better known as the “Clean Power Plan” – Attorney General Cynthia Coffman wasted no time filing a lawsuit against the Obama administration for overstepping its authority. Coffman rightly joined a rapidly growing coalition of states who are standing up for Colorado’s right to control its own energy grid.

To date, 27 states have filed suit against the EPA in federal court for “going far beyond the authority Congress granted to it by ordering a significant transformation of states’ electricity generation.”

And for good reason! The so-called “Clean Power Plan” would wreak havoc on Colorado families. Studies on the initial rule showed that if this dangerous new regulation is implemented, it will cost Colorado families more than $610 a year in increased heating and energy bills.

Attorney General Coffman’s decision drew sharp reproach by Gov. John Hickenlooper, who, along with Sen. Michael Bennet, supports this expensive new power grab that will hike Colorado heating and electric bills while destroying thousands of jobs. Colorado is now at a crossroads: will officials help the EPA enact this costly new regulation by submitting a state implementation plan or will officials stand up for hardworking Coloradans and refuse to go along with the unreasonable mandate?

In Colorado, the rule mandates a 28-percent reduction in overall carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. But making such sweeping changes to our energy grid won’t come cheap. In order to achieve such a goal, Colorado would have to close many fully functioning power plants well ahead of schedule and replace them with expensive new plants designed to use alternative energy sources that are typically government-subsidized and unproven. This move that will send 9,000 Coloradans packing as they search for new jobs, laid off thanks to the EPA’s overzealous new regulation.

Everyone recognizes the need for clean air and the importance of protecting our environment, but is it really worth $29 billion a year to implement new rules that even the EPA itself admits will have no measurable impact on our climate? The EPA’s own numbers show the rule will only reduce atmospheric carbon by a measly 0.2 percent and will only decrease global temperatures by an essentially imperceptible 0.01 degree.

Last year the Colorado Legislature introduced a bill that would give Colorado – not unelected bureaucrats at the EPA – control over our energy future. And this year, Colorado legislators should move quickly to pass the bill into law.

The legislation is simple: First, it prohibits Colorado from submitting or implementing the EPA regulations until the court decides if the rules are even legal to begin with. With 27 outstanding lawsuits challening this plan, this provision will prevent our state from wasting taxpayers’ resources until the EPA’s legal authority is clear. Why should taxpayers be on the hook for implementing a regulation that might not even be legal to begin with?

Second, it would empower Colorado state legislators, who are accountable to the people, to have a full vote on the plan before it is submitted to the EPA. And, lastly, it would instruct the state agencies developing the plans to ensure that they will protect the affordability and reliability of the state electricity system for its citizens.

Colorado has always had an independent spirit – and it’s because we know it’s Coloradans, not Washington bureaucrats thousands of miles away, who know what’s best for our state. As we look forward to 2016, we hope our elected officials will live up to that independent spirit and protect Colorado ratepayers from Washington’s latest attempt to dictate how we live our lives. Lawmakers should stand up to the Clean Power Plan and its risky new mandates that will only leave Colorado with higher energy bills, fewer jobs and less control of our future.

Michael Fields is the state director of Americans for Prosperity Colorado.