West Virginia and 26 other states have fought the Clean Power Plan, calling the regulations an “unprecedented power grab” by the Obama Administration. The decision is a result of a request sent to the Supreme Court by representatives of 28 states, including IN, arguing that the plan constitutes executive overreach.
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The Supreme Court has its judges divided as they vote 5-4 against Presidents Obama’s new power plant regulation.
As previously discussed on this blog, the Clean Power Plan is created to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fueled power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and each state has individual emission goals.
Although state compliance with the “Clean Power Plan” is not required until 2022, EPA set a September deadline for states to submit a plan to comply with the rule.
Kurt Ebersbach, an attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the Supreme Court stepping in was unexpected, but it won’t completely derail general trends away from coal and towards renewable energy.
Steam rises from the stacks of the coal-fired Jim Bridger Power Plant outside Point of Rocks, Wyo.
“That’s not true. So don’t despair, people”, he said.
When a party applies to the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, it is asking the court to review a lower court’s decision.
“I expect that the Clean Power Plan will ultimately prevail in the courts and that this lawsuit is just all about politics”, he said. And we know the EPA was extremely careful to put the Clean Power Plan on solid legal and scientific footing.
He blames the uncertainty on the fact that the Obama administration has been left to use the clean-air regulation to carry out energy policy.
Implementation of the plan is also considered key to the United States meeting targets in a global climate agreement signed in Paris last month.
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Between Sanders and Trump, we saw a story that will have a “huge” (the word of the day) impact on the Obama presidency. “I think it shows that what they’ve done is unconstitutional, it’s unfair to our industry and the Supreme Court is listening”, said Bissett.
