Kentucky and more than two dozen other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency to challenge the Clean Power Plan, and thanks to a Supreme Court decision on Tuesday, they won’t have to comply with it until the lawsuit is resolved.
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Melissa McHenry, a spokeswoman for American Electric Power Co., one of the biggest coal users among U.S. utilities, said the Supreme Court’s stay order on Obama’s clean-power plan proves that the case her firm filed has merit.
Justices on the high court blocked the enforcement of the Obama administration’s new clean energy plan while the lower courts decide whether the EPA has the legal authority to impose it. However the court action evidently also shows that much depends on the strategy and success of the plan likely to adopted by incumbent in Obama’s office.
On a 5-4 vote, the court granted a request made by [29] states and various companies and business groups to block the administration’s Clean Power Plan.
Tong said the coal industry plays a massive role in the larger USA economy; it is foundational to our electricity system and way of living.
A federal appeals court in Washington last month refused to put the plan on hold. “His plan could lead to widespread job losses, stalled economic growth, and skyrocketing energy costs”. As a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Maryland and neighboring states are on track to meet the objectives of the Clean Power Plan.
The White House, though, remained optimistic and said in a statement that it would “continue to take aggressive steps to make forward progress to reduce carbon emissions”.
The rule requires North Dakota power plants to cut carbon emissions almost in half by 2030.
The US Supreme Court decided on February 9, 2016, to put a hold on US President Barack Obama’s ambitious Clean Power Plan.
Robert Verchick, Chair of Environmental Law at Loyola University, says the Clean Power Plan encourages investment in clean energy, like wind and solar.
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“Don’t forget this same Supreme Court has three times ruled that the EPA must regulate carbon pollution per the Clean Air Act”.
