Shares of coal companies skyrocketed following news the U.S. Supreme Court moved to place a halt to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP).
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“The power rule they tried to put in place would have resulted in dramatically higher than average electricity bills and significantly less reliable service for families, hospitals and schools across America”.
“The Supreme Court did something unusual this week”, Obama said, noting that it was rare for the court to intervene while the case was still waiting to be heard at the circuit court level. The President’s Clean Power Plan represents the Obama administration’s contribution to the climate change agreements in Paris in December 2015.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf says the state will continue its plans to cut carbon emissions.
“The Supreme Court’s almost unprecedented but welcome action yesterday underscores what Americans have been saying all along – the President’s regulatory overreach is too costly, too invasive, and violates constitutional separation of powers”, Wicker said. But Republican Attorney General Cynthia Coffman says the plan is a threat to state authority, and signed on to a 29-state lawsuit this fall to strike it down. It requires that carbon dioxide emissions at existing power plants be reduced by 2030. The Supreme Court ordered a delay in implementation until legal challenges to the regulation are completed.
While compliance with the new rules isn’t required until 2022, states must submit their plans to the Environmental Protection Administration by September or seek an extension.
Together we’ve helped retire more than 230 of our nation’s 523 coal-fired power plants.
Meanwhile, the state was also moving ahead on the plan – holding stakeholder meetings and reviewing clarifications from the EPA.
Abby Foster represents the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance, which opposes the Clean Power Plan.
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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.
