The long fight to implement Obama’s Clean Power Plan took another step forward yesterday after a request from 27 US states to delay its enforcement until a legal challenge is resolved was turned down by a federal appeals court.
The challenge, led by West Virginia and supported by fossil fuel industry groups, had sought to bar the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from enforcing the plan until legal challenges to have the regulations overturned were resolved.
But the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the request, with the three judges writing in an order that the challengers “have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review".
The ruling means the federal regulation of carbon emissions will be allowed until at least June 2 2016, when the court is set to review the case. However, as states are required to submit their initial compliance plans by September 6 or ask the EPA for a two-year extension, the final ruling will likely come before states are required to submit their plans.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration was pleased with the decision. "We are confident that the plan will reduce carbon pollution and deliver better air quality, improved public health, and jobs across the country,” he said in a statement.
David Doniger, director of the Climate and Clean Air Program at advocacy group Natural Resources Defence Council, said the ruling was a “huge win” for protecting health and climate. “The court has brushed aside the polluters’ bogus bid to block the Clean Power Plan, and the electricity sector will continue the shift from its high-pollution, dirty-fuelled past to a safer, cleaner-powered future,” he told Associated Press.
The Clean Power Plan aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants by 32 per cent compared to 2005 levels over the next 15 years, as well as encouraging development of renewables.
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