The Clean Power Plan – created to lower carbon emissions from USA power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels – has been the cornerstone of the Obama administration’s strategy to combat climate change.
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The U.S. Supreme Court halted the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation on coal – part of the Clean Power Plan – in a 5-2 decision Tuesday. “Hope. Coal miners and their families should have more hope tonight after our unprecedented victory at the US Supreme Ct. We stayed the CPP!” tweeted Morrissey, whose state leads the group opposing the Obama plan.
Conservatives and those with an interest in continuing our dependence on fossil fuels have vigorously opposed the plan on economic grounds. Those regulations cost consumers nearly $10 billion per year, and many power plants were shuttered in the years between when the EPA issued the rule and the Supreme Court overturned them.
The Obama administration says a Supreme Court order delaying enforcement of its new clean-power rules will ultimately have little impact on meeting the nation’s obligations under the recent Paris climate agreement.
The White House on Tuesday night said it disagreed with the court decision but said it expects the rule will survive the legal challenge.
The U.S. Supreme Court has given the people of Arkansas good news.
A federal appeals court in Washington last month refused to put the plan on hold.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia, one of the leaders who’s fighting the regulation said that he is happy with the court’s decision.
“While there is much more work to do, this important ruling is the first step to restoring coal as the affordable, reliable electricity source that has powered both Kentucky and this country”, said Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association. Under Obama’s plan, the carbon emission regulations wouldn’t go into effect until 2020, but states needed to submit plans on how they were going to comply with the regs relatively soon.
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Utah joined West Virginia and 22 other states in challenging the EPA’s approach to regulating carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that would unlawfully hinder Utah’s ability to make fundamental decisions central to the state’s quality of life and economy growth.
